The Geo-Moon Chronicles Part 1: The Earth Mission
by Alexander Ricardo
Summary: Meet James Geo, the Fleet Admiral of the Moon Kingdom's military force. He's come to Earth from the relocated but still very much alive Moon Kingdom to take Serena and the others back to their birthrights


"I've been around for quite some time, for the last twenty years I've been an aimless wanderer, ever since my home world was destroyed," I said, in response to the man's question from across the bar. "An entire world, destroyed?" "Well, not the planet itself, but all of it's inhabitants, except for me and my crew members, we originally numbered in the hundreds of thousands, now, after the destruction was over, there's only about two hundred of us left," I kicked the tip of my sheath with my heel and caught the sword in mid air laying it down on the bar. "You are an old war dog, aint ya?" He replied watching me take the shot down in one swallow and slam the glass back down on the bar. I turned to the side and lit a cigarette. The match illuminated my face, once picture perfect, now just a collection grounds for scars of my previous battles. The black eye patch I wore covered the most hideous of those scars. "Stranger, you have no idea what kind of war dog I am," I laughed, exhaling the smoke and turning back to him placing my elbows on the bar. "Pour me a glass of brandy and I'll tell ya all about it, though," I smiled at him, he admired my teeth for a moment. At least they had remained picture perfect throughout all of my crusades, I wondered to myself how long it would be before they lost their youth as well. The barkeep poured a glass of brandy and set it down in front of me. I picked it up and stared at it for a minute before taking a sip. "So, stranger," he started, "what's your name?" "The name is Jamison Andrew Geo, son, and now I'll tell you about how I came to be here," I started.  
  
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No one is very clear on the details of my infancy, I was conceived of an affair between my mother, and my father's best friend. Even after my father found out about it, though, he was still my father, and he raised me with as much attention and love as he could give. And so, like any normal child would, I wanted to follow in his footsteps, and he was the admiral of the Moon Defense Team. The military force that defended my home's kingdom from invasion. They were a small force, but they were elite, and no force of any size was thought to be powerful enough to defeat them. But anyways, when I had been born, my mother had gone deep into the woods of some nameless community on the planet Mars, and gave birth to me there, in hopes of hiding the evidence. When she returned home, my father and my older brother Jacob were preparing for a hunting trip they would taking the next day. That's when they found me. My father brought me home that night and told my mother that they would be taking care of me until my real parents were found. My mother was absolutely delighted, not only did she cover up the fact that she had an affair, but she got to keep me as well. My grandfather also lived with us, he was a former knight of the moon court who had retired in his old age. At this point in time the Moon kingdom was regarded as the defenders of Earth, and all of it's subsidiaries, Mars included. We were an advanced people of seemingly limitless technology. The community we lived in had been built for people like my family, to catch the over spill of the Moon's population. It was also from that community that new members for the Moon Defense Team, or MDT, were scouted and recruited, in those times, bloodline was everything, if you came from the seed of a warrior, then a warrior you shall be, heh heh heh. Well that's pretty much the way things went around there. Anyways, that being the case, my father and my grandfather spent their days training my brother and I to fight, we ate it for our meals, drank it to wash the meals down, and dreamt about it in our sleep. I was eleven years old when my father was finally called back to the kingdom to lead a counter assault on an incoming strike force from Queen Beryl and her Negaverse forces. You see, the Negaverse was an evil empire that existed in another dimension. They hated our dimension with an unbridled passion that was matched by no other, and later it was learned that Queen Beryl was to be the least of our worries, but I'm getting ahead of myself. So my father returned to the side of the only person above him on the food chain, Queen Serenity, who had a daughter that was about my age. He rallied the troops at the palace and then they all climbed into their cockpits and zoomed off into battle. Though they had decimated the enemy fleet down to the last three fighter crafts, my father was the only one who survived the initial assault. My father, being outnumbered three to one, headed back to Mars, with all three of them on his tail, so as to lead them away from the palace. He began sweeping over the surface of the planet and I saw him in trouble, so I ran into the house and grabbed his rifle, and ran back outside. Sure enough he flew by the house again, and I shot at the fighter closest to him. The bullet traveled far to slow for me to lead the target by that much however and the bullet hit the second fighter and not the first. My father who had seen me take aim and heard the explosion assumed I had hit the first one and slowed down, that was all it took for the other two fighters to slam into his ship and all three were destroyed. They never recovered my father's body, some suggested he had ejected from the cockpit and turned on the auto pilot but my family knew better than that, my dad was a Marine through and through, he had stayed in that cockpit till the end, and died defending the crown. After that incident the queen brought her flagship to Mars to visit our family. and with her was her daughter and her daughter's four body guards, also her age. The sailor scouts, as they were called, were imbued with special powers giving them the capabilities to defend Princess Serena, and Queen Serenity, with lethal force if need be. She brought my mother some flowers and talked with her in the house for a long time along with my older brother while my grandfather and I stayed outside to train. I was incredibly angry. "My father dies defending her worthless butt, and all she brings is flowers," I said seething. Her daughter's friends looked at me angrily. "Excuse me, that's your queen you're talking about," I shifted my gaze to them and gained a fighting stance. "I never swore allegiance to anyone, and if any of you pansies have anything to say about it, bring it on." My grandfather stepped back and the four girls gained fighting stances as well. "Jupiter thunder clap!" one of them shouted. A bolt of lightening shot from her hands and knocked me backwards quite a distance. I flipped back up, a hole had been singed in my shirt but my flesh was unscathed. "Is that all you got? Bring it on, I said!" "Mars fire ignite!" "Go dowse yourself in some water and repent!" a third one said. I stopped upon laying eyes on her and deflected Sailor Mars's attack with the sweep of my arm. I suddenly heard a whisper in my head. The words were inaudible at first, but they were growing louder, until I finally heard them and realized that I too had powers. "Now, it's my turn," I said. I stepped forward a few paces and ripped the remnants of my shirt off, revealing a muscular and toned chest and abdomen covered in sweat. I gained a wrestling stance and began summoning my energy. The girls tightened their stances just as the queen and my brother walked out. "What's going on here?" Serenity asked. "He's talking blasphemy, mother!" her daughter replied. Serenity turned to my grandfather. "Jebidiah?" "He's angered about his father, your highness, and you're about to witness an amazing demonstration." My eyes flashed blue and I crouched down, wrapping my arms around my knees and burying my head in my arms as I strained for energy. Then, suddenly, I shot back up into my stance and shouted: "GEO THERMAL BLAST!" I shot my arms out at the girls and energy waves flew towards them like flames, knocking all five of them backwards, three times farther than any of them ever did to me. My brother dropped the cigarette from his mouth as he stared at me. When the waves subsided, I was drenched with sweat and my chest was heaving from exhaustion, but I still remained in stance. the girls all picked themselves up and Serena ran to hide behind her mother. The other four gained a stance despite their scrapes and bruises, for round two. "That's enough, all of you!" Serenity declared. "You, Jamison Geo, what's your complaint?" "My father died trying to defend you and your precious little kingdom, Serenity, and you have the nerve to walk into our house carrying flowers as your only consolation? Well excuse my informalities your highness, but my father meant a lot more to me than a bouquet of flowers," I stated. She smiled at me. "He meant more than that to me as well, young Geo, which is why I came here to honor his last request and knight both you and your brother into my kingdom's court." I stopped. "What?" I asked. "I came here to make you a royal guard, James, and now I see that you will make an excellent Marine as well. I have never seen anything like the power you just displayed." "You want me, to swear allegiance to you?" "Yes, and I want you to take your father's place as admiral, in time, when your training is completed." I lowered my fists and walked slowly over to my seat. "How can I trust you, how do I know that I'll really have my father's position?" "You have my word as the queen of this kingdom, young Geo." "Okay then, my next question, what are the prerequisites?" "The only prerequisite I can think of that would be in order is a heartfelt apology towards myself for the slanderous remarks you made, and an apology towards my daughter's guardians, for injuring them." I caught my breath finally and replaced my shirt, then I walked over and knelt in front of Serenity. She extended her gloved hand, I reached up and kissed the ring on her finger, then looked back down at the hem of her dress. "Your majesty, I do apologize for my misunderstanding of your terms of consolation. However, your daughter's guardians initiated the attack, and I refuse to apologize for self defense." She chuckled in response. "That's quite alright, James. We'll be staying here for dinner tonight, as per your mother's request, so go get washed up. Amy, go and get Johnathon's trunk." Amy ran off towards the flagship and I hit the showers. When I was finished with my shower I stepped out and my grandfather stood in the doorway. He pointed to a uniform laying on the counter top. "Put this on, it's your new uniform." I quickly dressed in the uniform and pulled my hair back in a pony tail, I then stepped outside. Jacob wore the same uniform and admired himself in it, I kinda stared at mine strangely. "This is cool, ain't it, Jimmy?" "I don't know, Ser...Your Majesty?" I corrected myself mid-sentence, she smiled. "It's okay, James, you can call me by name, you're a knight now." "Oh, okay, well, Serenity, I have a question." "What is it James?" "Could I alter this uniform slightly? It's really not my style." "Oh? What is your style?" "Well for example, the long sleeves, they interfere with punches and parries. And the boots, the suede leather whistles in a kick and alerts possible enemies to your movements. I would just like to correct some of these flaws." "Sounds good to me, how quickly could you do that?" "Give me thirty minutes," I said. I ran into my bedroom and shut and locked the door. I cut off the sleeves and hemmed the cut edges underneath to make a perfectly straight edge. I spit shined the boots and then took my father's old black beret and coiled my pony tail up underneath it. I took my fathers old gun belt and baldric, also spit shined, and wore it over the top placing his twin pistols in the holsters and snapping them shut. After that was finished I opened the door and stepped out. All eyes turned to look at me and all jaws dropped wide open. "James, that's fantastic!" Jacob said rising from the table and looking the new uniform up and down. "Where'd you get dad's old gun belt?" "He gave it to me a while back and said that I'd wear it into battle someday like he used to," I replied. I removed the beret and folded it, tucking it halfway into the gun belt. "Well, James, mission accomplished, I'll have the royal tailors alter all the uniforms to those specifications," Serenity said. I performed an old school military salute. "I suppose your father taught you that as well?" "No, not really, I found his old training manuals from when he was in the academy," I replied smiling. My grandfather smiled and nodded approvingly. "Well then James, as soon as your grandfather says you are ready, I have a position waiting for you," she said smiling. "What about the military?" "I'm going off to start training tomorrow afternoon," Jacob replied, there are four other's who are going to join me, the palace has an automated defense system that should be able to hold off any enemies until then." I nodded. "Yeah, it'll be a while before Beryl can rebuild an armada of that size," I nodded. "We'll have to scale up the recruiting operations and recruit outside of this community if we want to have any hopes at all of rebuilding a force to defend the kingdom." "What are you proposing?" Serenity asked. "A new, more organized, military," I replied, "we need a heck of a lot more than just a team of fighter pilots if we hope to fend off another invasion of that magnitude." I shook my head. "All of the MDT forces were elite status, and now we have to recruit an entirely new force of newbies. If an armada that size, or even half that size, assaults us again, we'd be fish bait." "That would require more facilities," Grandfather said. "As well as a rank structure," Serenity added, both of them were smiling as I closed my eyes in deep thought. "I got it! We'll ask the people from all different sectors to donate land and building materials for the facilities," I said. "As for the rank structure, I'll work on that one. And also, the name has gotta go." "What? Change the name? Why?" Jacob asked. "For two reasons: First off, the military force I am talking about is much, much larger than just a team. Secondly, it'll be a morale booster for the kingdom. From the ashes of the MDT's destruction a new military force will rise. You know, a sort of, neo-genesis type thing." I said. "We'll call it..." I stopped. "The MMC, The Moon Marine Corps, plain and simple." I said. Jacob tested the name to himself, and shrugged. "Sounds pretty good." "I agree, you know, James, you're onto something here," Serenity said. Just then a knock sounded on the door. I walked over to answer it, another boy dressed in a black suit, about Jacob's age walked in, and about knocked me over. I quickly drew dad's gun and stuck the barrel in his lower spine wrapping my arm around his throat. "First off, stranger, this is my house and you will not brush past me upon entry into it. Secondly, you've got five seconds from the time I stop talking to identify yourself and state your purpose of being here before I turn you into a paraplegic." He swallowed and held his hands up. "Prince Darien of Earth, I'm a friend of the queen." I looked over his shoulder at Serenity who smiled and nodded. I released him and spun my pistol around on my finger, slamming it back into it's holster and snapping the cover back in place. He spun around and punched me in the jaw, hard. I flew backwards out the open door and rolled out into the yard flipping back up onto my feet in a stance. My face was a twisted picture of fury. Everyone quickly rose from the table and grabbed Darien. Jacob stepped in my way. "James, he's royalty, that's a death sentence." "He's royalty, true, but he's from Earth's kingdom, not mine," I said. "Give him a break, James, he didn't know you were a knight," Serenity said. "What's all the fuss about, I'll bend this little twit over my knee and give him a proper spanking," Darien replied, smiling. "That's it, I've had it." I said. Everyone got out of my way. I rushed at Darien. He drew his sword and swung it at my head. My foot intercepted his hand and launched the sword away from him, as my fist buried itself in his face. He flew backwards and bounced off the ground like a rag doll before coming to a complete stop. He then rolled over and sat up, dazed and with a broken nose. I caught his sword as it fell back to earth and tossed it to him, "Here's your sword back, asshole!" I turned and walked in the house just as the blade buried itself in the ground a fraction of an inch away from his crotch. He looked down at the sword, scared stiff, and passed out. Serena and her friends revived him and took him inside, where they started to bandage his nose. I moved them away, "I'll fix his nose," I said. "Are you sure you can, James?" "My father always told me, Serenity, if you can't fix it, don't break it." I placed my hand a fraction of an inch away from his face, and closed my eyes. A blue mist filled the distance between the two and when I pulled my hand away, his face was just like it had been before I hit him. I extended my hand to him and helped him up off the ground. "There now, I'm willing to forget this ever happened, Darien..." "Prince Darien," he corrected. I rolled my eyes. "Whatever, I'm willing to forget this ever happened, but if you ever lay another hand on me again, I will break you where not even my powers can fix it, get me?" He smiled. "Loud and clear, war dog." "Good, now, come, sit down and eat," I said, patting him on the back. We finished the meal with a bunch of laughter. After the dishes had been cleared the princess and her guardians approached me. "Where did you get those powers?" Mina of Venus asked. I shrugged. "I don't really know, today's the first time I've ever used any of them." "How did you get so buff?" Lita asked smiling. "Through my father and grandfather's training routine, everyday since I was old enough to walk," I replied smiling. Amy of Mercury wasn't with them, I looked around and spotted her walking into the flagship. "James," Serenity said, "there you are. Pack an overnight bag, you're sleeping on the flagship with us tonight," she said. She turned to Amy. "Amy, James will be sharing your quarters with you." She smiled for a second then turned away. "I'll prepare a place for him, Serenity," she replied. I ran and grabbed my bag, and then ran off to the ship, Serena and the others hot on my heels, but unable to keep up. As I rounded the corner I ran smack dab into Amy knocking us both on the ground, me on top of her. We stayed there for a moment while the shock wore off, looking each other in the eye. Then we both recovered sharply. "Um, sorry about that." "No, I'm sorry," she replied. " Right this way."  
  
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The next morning, Jacob packed all of his things and prepared to leave for special forces training, as grandfather and myself continued our martial arts training. "So, Jebidiah, how long will it be until he is ready?" "Give me two more years," Jebidiah replied. I stepped forward. "I'll only need one year, Serenity. The extra year would just be remedial training, a complete waste of time when we have to rebuild the entire armed forces." "So be it, young Geo, we will return in one year's time to check on your progress." "I'll be ready," I replied. I then turned to grandfather, "Let's go, we have training to complete," I smiled. We stepped outside and began immediately with the final step to attaining a mastery, meditation. "It's time for you to meditate, deep within your body lies a great power that has only allowed a drop of it's true potential to surface, James, you must locate the rest of your power in order to complete your training. You have already exhibited complete physical control of your moves, now you must master the energies within yourself," He said. I nodded slowly, focusing all of my attention on him. "Right," I replied. "Good, now, you can begin whenever you feel you are ready," I turned to watch Serenity and the girls go on board the ship. Amy waved to me with a sad look on her face. I forced a smile and waved back. "Grandfather, I feel a burning sensation, deep inside my chest whenever I look upon Amy of Mercury, what is it?" He smiled. "This sensation, does it hurt you right now?" "Yes, very much." "James, my boy, I think you've just had your first taste of love." "Love? This doesn't feel like any love I've ever experienced before." "It's a completely different genre of love, James, this is the type of love a man feels for the woman he will make his wife." "But I thought that guardians were forbidden to love." "They are, but love doesn't care. I was once told by my grandfather, that love is like a herd of Rhinos: Short Sighted and Hard Headed, but where there is not a way for it to exist, it will make a way." I looked up at him. "That's silly, I could never change the laws like that, that's a job for royalty and political figures, not a Marine," I replied. "In time, you will learn that most of your battles will be fought outside the battlefield." "Grandfather, I choose to fight my battles on the battlefield, it's where I'm the best at." "Not all of your enemies will let you fight them there, James. Some will commence hostilities here," he pointed to his head, "which is why it is important that you learn to master your energies, and therefore master your mind." I smiled. "I'll be the best, grandfather, and one day, she will be my wife, I swear it on my father's grave," I said solemnly. "I will be the best fighter this galaxy has ever seen, and I will destroy Beryl and her Negaverse will follow," I said. "There are too many flaws in our government, and with God as my witness I will correct them all." I sat down on a rock, Indian style and held out my arms, resting the backs of my hands on my knees with my fingers open and outstretched. I then closed my eyes and began to go into my state of meditation. It was as though I were dreaming. I saw a man who seemed to be my father, only he wore my uniform. He was locked in battle with Vincent Felinine, my father's one time co- pilot and former best friend, before he went AWOL from the MDT and disappeared. Felinine wore a suit of golden armor with six silver tentacles on his back, each with a razor sharp blade on the end. I saw myself at my current age, in the palace, rebuilding the Marine Corps. I saw the man again kissing a woman who resembled an older version of Amy. That's when the understanding sank in, the man was me in the future. The man I saw had long blond hair down to his waist, and a neatly clipped goatee. He was built like no man I had ever seen before . Then I saw him talking to another sailor scout, unfamiliar, and stepping through what seemed to be a magical door of some sort. He reappeared on Earth, but it was like nothing I had ever seen before. The Earthlings had built huge buildings, almost a mile high each, and traveled in fossil fuel powered vehicles. They used weapons that discharged metal projectiles instead of lasers. I saw Amy and the other girls, including Serena in this world, but Serena was dressed as a sailor scout, and displayed powers of her own, relatively weak, like the others, but effective when combined. I saw the man, me, again standing on a rooftop watching the girls through a rifle scope and smoking a cigarette. He was dressed in black with black camouflage on, obviously on an observation mission, as he didn't pull the trigger even once. Then I saw him again, locked in combat with Felinine a second time. This time though, Amy was laying on the ground in front of him in puddle of blood, a lifeless expression frozen on her dead face. That's when I heard the shout: GEO CRYSTALIS POWER! My eyes snapped open and blinked blue for a moment before I remembered where I was. I stood up and stretched out before practicing my moves so as not to get rusty. It was in the middle of the night, but I had no idea how long I had been in the trance, it only seemed like a few swift moments, but had hours passed? Days? Weeks? Months were more probable, Meditation Trances have a tendency to last for months, sometimes even decades can pass without the person even moving a muscle. I looked at my reflection in the pond water, I had aged a little. My hair was unruly and grown down past my waist, and I had stubble on my chin. I imagined how I used to look before I had gone into the trance and compared it to the image I was seeing now. I smiled. "Time flies when you're honing your mind, I guess," I said, my voice was deeper also. How long had I been in that trance, it was starting to seem like years had passed. Finally I moved away from the pond and drew my father's sword from it's resting place in the ground beside me. I used the sharpened edge of the blade to shave, and then trimmed my hair a little and readjusted the ponytail. After that was said and done I went back to practicing, my speed and agility had nearly tripled since I began my meditation. I walked over to a tree and decided to run a strength test. I gained a stance and kicked at the tree. I felt the connection and followed through, knocking the old tree to the ground with a crash. The lights all turned on in the house and my mother and grandfather ran outside. "You're awake!" Grandfather said. I nodded, smiling. "How long was I out of it?" "You were in that trance for eleven months and twenty nine days, Serenity will be here tomorrow," he smiled as he looked me up and down. "And won't she be pleased to find an Admiral where she left a boy behind." I smiled. "Grandfather, I saw..." "What you saw in your trance, is for your eyes only," he interrupted me. "You must never tell anyone of the things you have seen, James, good or bad, the events which transpired in your trance are fate, your destiny, and you will follow it to the letter, willingly or not." "No, I won't," I said staring at him. "I cannot accept it, and I refuse to believe that I have no control over my own destiny. I will turn fate," I said. "Just as this tree has fallen to my power, so will whoever writes in the pages of the book of destiny." He smiled. "You will find that to be a difficult task to accomplish, James." "Anything worth doing is difficult to accomplish, Grandfather," I smiled. Then I stopped and placed a hand on my chest. I looked up and saw a ship entering the atmosphere. "It would appear that they have arrived a few hours early." I said. I walked inside and took a shower before washing my uniform. I put the uniform back on and stepped back outside just in time to watch everyone disembark from the ship. Fifty men dressed in uniforms similar to mine and holding rifles ran out and assembled in a flight formation. After they were assembled, Serenity and the others stepped off the ship. The sun was beginning to rise in the eastern sky. My jaw dropped when I saw how much Amy had grown over the past year. I quickly closed my mouth and regained composure as I walked over to Serenity and saluted, "Greetings, Serenity, what have we here?" "Well, James, these are the first fifty men to enlist, three sectors have already completed construction of MMC buildings, and five more sectors are in the process of building them as we speak," she said. "By the way, you have grown quite a bit in this last year. I assume then that your training is complete?" "Absolutely." I replied. "Oh, and of course you remember the girls," she motioned. I saluted princess Serena. "How could I forget? Hopefully this encounter will be more peaceful than the last one," I said bowing my head slightly. They giggled and nodded, smiling. That's when Darien stepped off the ship, he stopped upon laying eyes on me. "Well, well, well, how fares the training, war dog?" I smiled and shook his hand. "Completed, Darien, punctuality is a very important virtue in my family." "And a respected one in mine," he replied. Serenity cleared her throat. "Well then, now that the formalities are finished, James, there is one more stipulation in receiving your commission as Admiral." "Lay it on me, Serenity." "Admiral Wolfe, step forward," she commanded. The most decorated soldier stepped forward and saluted. "As requested, your highness." "Good, James, the stipulation is this, you must defeat Admiral Daniel Wolfe in hand to hand combat, although since our numbers are limited, I would ask you to spare his life." "Sure thing," I winked at the girls. "Back in just a second," he said. "This is gonna be interesting." Amy said to Raye. Lita and Mina nodded. Serena clung to Darien's shoulder. I removed my gun belt and beret. Daniel did the same. "So, you're the top dog, huh?" I asked. "Yup, that's what they tell me," He replied. "Well then, let's see what they taught you." I motioned him forward. He moved with lightening speed and slammed his fist into my stomach, following that up with a kick to the face, flipping me backwards. I landed on my hands and feet and used the momentum to push myself up into the air. I landed behind him and used the momentum from the jump to bounce up slightly and plant both of my feet into his back, launching him like a rocket straight forward into the exterior wall of the house. He bounced off the wall and hit the ground hard on his back. He slowly climbed up to his feet and rushed at me again. I spun around quickly, using my ponytail as a whip and lashing him in the face, followed by a heel kick to the ribs and finally slammed the top of my foot into the side of his abdomen launching him even more powerfully off to his right side over the tree that I had just knocked down. Once again he climbed to his feet and gained a stance, his body was torn up and bleeding, but his face was a twisted mask of fury. "You're pretty strong," he said through breaths. "You're not too bad yourself, most people would be dead by now," I smiled. I gained my own stance, "Round two?" "Comin atcha!" he yelled, as he charged with his fist drawn back and ready to strike. I quickly flipped through the air and turned to the side landing two consecutive kicks to the top of his head. He flew to the ground and crashed with a thunderous force as I landed. "Mission accomplished." I said. Sure enough he was knocked out cold. "James, you were toying with him!" My grandfather said. "No I wasn't, I was testing him, if he's the top dog, that means he's the best there is in the force, right? Well I have to know exactly what kind of remedial training I need to do," I said. He nodded and looked thoughtful. I helped him back to his feet and shook his hand. "Excellent fight, commander," I said. He smiled back and saluted. "Thank you, sir." He dusted off his uniform and replaced his gun belt and beret. Serenity walked up and pinned my new ranks on my shoulder boards. "Excellent victory, and what a display of sportsmanship as well," she smiled and turned to the flight. "I give you, your new commander-in-chief, Admiral Jamison Andrew Geo." The flight shot to attention and saluted smartly. I returned the salute, and then turned to the queen. "I assume then, that I will be going back to the palace with you?" "If you feel that you need to, your father ran the military from home." "And never accomplished anything in times of peace," I replied. "Not for me, thank you, no, we need a permanent infra structure to make this work," I said. "All battles are won or lost before they even begin, and I do not plan on losing," I said. "Would it be possible to establish a headquarters inside the palace?" "Yes, actually, we do have some spare room that would suit your needs splendidly." "Excellent, and you say that these fifty men and women here are the first?" "That's correct," she replied. "Well then, it only seems appropriate that they be dubbed Alpha Flight," I said. I turned to face them and stood at attention. "Flight, at ease," I said. They relaxed and kept their eyes on me. "Listen very carefully, from this day forward, you will be known as Alpha Flight, and you will be the only flight directly under my command. When you're not in my presence, Flight Commander Daniel Wolfe is in charge, any attack on his authority is an attack on me, and that attacker will be dealt with accordingly, do I make myself clear?" "Crystal Clear, sir!" they responded loudly. "Good. Now, as I'm sure you might have guessed this honor I am bestowing upon you will be accompanied with a higher standard. You are the command staff and crew, you will travel with me on the flagship should we go into battle, and with these higher standards will come greater rewards, if you earn them, do I make myself clear?" "Crystal Clear, Sir!" they responded again. "Okay then, now that we've got that out of the way, there are some things you'll learn about me in time, I'll save you the effort and tell you about them up front. First of all, I really don't like titles, so when you are not in uniform you can and will address me by my first name. Also, when we are in headquarters, even in uniform, with the exception of formations, the same rules apply," I said. "I'm a fairly easy going guy, so don't be afraid to speak plainly with me, are we clear on that issue?" "Sir, yes, sir!" I smiled. "Good. Now break formation and relax," I said. They sighed and sat down. "Okay then, what our job will be, upon returning to the palace, is first and foremost, transforming this 'extra room' into our headquarters. This shouldn't take too terribly long, our next order of business will be recreating the rank structure of the Marine Corps. Commander Wolfe's title is only a temporary fix to a long term problem. Oh, and we'll hold a formation in the courtyard once we arrive, I'll go into more detail there, okay?" They nodded. "Hey, James." A guy in the back said. "Are you gonna teach us to fight like you do?" He asked. The rest of them agreed. I smiled. "Absolutely. Unfortunately for you, I have powers that increase my strength, much like the sailor scouts, only three times as powerful, to my knowledge, probably even more so than that," I said. "But, uh, yeah, that's our third order of business. Coming up with a training agenda," I pointed at him, "good question. Okay, you're all dismissed until..." I looked at Serenity, she glanced at her watch. "We'll be departing tonight at sunset," she said. I nodded. "You're dismissed, meet back here as the bottom of the sun touches the horizon, got it?" "Sure thing, James." Daniel said, they all scattered. I turned to the others. Amy and the other scouts saluted me, I returned the gesture. Serenity stepped up behind me. "The Sailor Scouts classify as a military branch, so they are under your authority as well." She said. I winced. "Oooh, that complicates things now don't it," I smiled at them. "Um, Amy, how long have you been a guardian?" I asked. "Four years, sir," she replied. I held up my hand. "No titles for you four, as far as I'm concerned the only military role you'll play outside of your current duties is as advisors to me. You've been in the action longer, and I respect experience. Amy, I'll need to meet with you shortly after we return to the palace, I trust you three can guard the princess without her for a while?" "Absolutely, James," Lita replied. "Good, well then, carry on," I smiled. I walked back over to the others. "Excellent work, James," Serenity said. "Your father would be proud." "I agree," Grandfather said. "However, James, you're over ruling a lot of tradition, are you sure that's wise?" "Well Grandfather, the military that stuck to the tradition isn't alive to argue with me anymore, now are they? I told you before, I will not be beaten as my father was." "Yes, your father was quite the visionary himself, however, your position requires a lot of political issues as well, that was his weak point." "Well then, I'll have to invest in a book of laws and ordinances," I said. "The counsel, in my opinion, is nothing more than a society composed of nags and complainers. They take too long debating over senseless issues that could be better solved by one person making a rash and half baked judgment, at least then, the decision would be punctual," I rolled my eyes. "And I'll be damned if the counsel will stand in my way of defending this kingdom, the instant that they become a thorn in my side, I will declare martial law, and remove them from the chain of command," I said. My grandfather nodded smiling. "Well then, when I travel back with you to become their new elder, I shall have to keep that in mind then, won't I?" I nodded. "Yes, grandfather, you should. No measure will be taken that I see no merit in. The only things that will change are the things that I have witnessed causing the downfall of the MDT. And I'm sure since you will be the new elder, that we will butt heads on more than one occasion." I looked over my shoulder at Amy, who was in conversation with the other girls. Grandfather nodded. "Indeed we will, you're as hard headed as your father was, and he was as hard headed as I am," he laughed. I turned to the queen. "Serenity, what is the policy on dating within the ranks?" "Well James, the laws that are in place now, have been there for many years, that's between you and the counsel to decide," she said. "Guardians are forbidden to date, James," Darien added. "So they are," I replied thoughtfully. "Well then, I guess no book of laws would be complete without a few flaws, eh?" I chuckled at my own joke and the others joined me. Serenity then looked at me with all seriousness. "James, I'll warn you, should you go against the counsel's laws, I will have no power to intervene, you will be punished as the law states," she said. "Well then, I'll have to watch my step," I smiled. She returned the gesture. "You are so much like your father it's uncanny," She smiled back. "Oh and one more thing, Darien is an earthling, true. However he is looked upon as a diplomat here, and his word has just as much pull in the counsel as yours does, if not more." He bowed to me. "You see, war dog. On my planet, the military was once allowed to court within the ranks, as well as with royalty. And, it caused nothing but devastation as far as political matters go, a princess being kidnapped turned into not only a nation's vendetta, but a single man's vendetta as well, which in turn spurred a war that nearly wiped all life off the face of the planet, I will not see that happen again," he said. I smiled and nodded. "Ah, Darien, you assume too much about me too quickly, a very unwise call, especially for a leader such as yourself. It's not a smart move to think you can outsmart your opponent before you've even met him properly. As far as Earth's history goes I'm well aware of the war you are referring to, and that was the cause of that war as well, not the princess's capture. Royalty is merely a figure head to a governments system. A ram to lead the sheep, if you will. However, among common sheep, you'll notice that if the Ram is killed, they don't retaliate, they simply find another Ram to lead them." "Yes, but in the human realm, things are so much more complex," he replied. "How so?" I asked. "Well, the political way of things would be disrupted to the point of nonrepairability, things would be thrown into Anarchy." "Would they?" "Yes, assuredly." "Do you have proof?" "What?" "Documentation of some sort, an example of it happening in the past?" "Um, no, not that I can think of, political affairs have been fairly standardized through Earth," he replied. I nodded smiling. "So that's just an opinion then?" "It's a hypothesis that forms the basis of every system of government in the universe." "A hypothesis?" I said. "Well then, far be it beyond me to argue with a guess!" I said smiling. "No, but seriously, that hypothesis has never been tested has it, Darien?" "Not to my knowledge, it hasn't." "Well then, it classifies as an opinion in my book, and I have no room in my logic for anyone's opinions but my own." I said. He looked at me like he had just lost his place in a good book. I smiled and chuckled. "Get used to it, Darien, I'm sure we'll have more than this one argument between us in the future." "There's no argument here, James, I stand firm in my judgment and I will not be moved until the counsel moves me," he said seriously. I nodded and walked off thoughtfully. Darien smiled smugly to himself having gotten the better of me at the time. It was not the last time that the issue came up though. We loaded the ship up as sundown drew nearer, the men returned, many of them earlier than told to. After a headcount, we loaded the flag ship and made our way back to moon kingdom.  
  
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Things were pretty hectic upon our arrival. Serenity walked Alpha flight and myself back to our new headquarters. "You know, it's ironic that you should use this space as your new headquarters, James, I once asked your father what I should do with this extra space, and he said to use it as ammunition storage. Fortunately, Amy is terrified of guns, much like I am, and he was only joking." I walked in and smiled as I looked around. "This is perfect," I said. "Do we have a site to dispose of this stuff?" "Absolutely, the Imperial Warehouse is set into the flagship's autopilot if you want to use it's cargo bays." "What is being stored here?" "Weapons, mostly, your father was a stickler for upgrades in armament, so he discarded the old weaponry in here, rifles, side arms, swords, armor, you name it, this place is like a museum of the military's history," I busted out laughing hysterically. "This is almost too good to be true!" I said. I turned to Alpha Flight. "Okay guys, here's the plan, for now we will stack all of these boxes in one room, that room will be used for storage until we can build and install some racks and shelves to properly equip this room with." I pointed at the boxes, "Daniel, you pick the room that you want them stacked in, then help your flight get them moved. I have some other business to take care of and then I'll be back to finish helping you," I said. "Absolutely, James. You're gonna recycle these weapons aren't you?" "Absolutely, one of the best weapons you could ever have against an opponent is the element of surprise, they think we've upgraded all weapons systems to next generation technology, won't they be surprised when they try another attack and get a bullet put between their eyes!" I said. The flight started cheering and applauding. "Well then, now that we're in agreeance, move out!" I said. "Serenity, where will we be getting the building supplies from?" "The hangar and barracks area on the top floor of the west wing. The hangar used to house the MDT's space fighters, but now it's completely empty. You can use that area for supplies, reconnaissance, construction, and storage." "Excellent." I said. "Amy, if I could borrow you for a moment," I said. She waved to the other girls as they walked off and ran back over. "Yes, James?" "Well, seeing as I'm new to this whole get up, I was wondering if you wouldn't mind filling me in on the details about the sailor scout branch." "Sure, just give me a time and place." "We'll meet in the hangar at say, seven o'clock this evening?" "Sounds great, I'll be there." She ran off again. Serena arched an eyebrow. Darien raised a finger and opened his mouth. I interrupted him. "You know, Darien, legitimacy is nine tenths of the law, not possession," I smiled at him, winked, and made my way back to the room to help move the boxes. Serenity giggled slightly and turned away, walking back to her throne. However, that evening, Darien counter attacked. Amy walked down to the hangar where I was practicing my martial arts, escorted by the princess and the other sailor scouts, and Darien. "What the hell?" I asked. "It's in the military book of laws that the guardian team has been trained to work as one and must not be separated." I walked over and took the book from him and tore it in half. "Darien, this is your first and last warning from me before I gut you. You are a diplomat, and as such you will be treated, however, if you interfere with my defense strategies one more time, I will sell your liver to the corner market in peasant square, am I perfectly clear?" "No, James, you're not..." he was silenced as my blade touched his throat. "Don't try me, Darien, you're out of your bounds and you know it. Any attack on a head military officer is an attack on the queen and an act of treason to the crown which is grounds for a death sentence." "If I were to attack you war dog, there would be no evidence of the incident left." "No, maybe not, but people would probably miss you eventually," he snarled. The scouts backed away slowly, as did the princess. I withdrew my sword and re-sheathed it. "Now get out of here." I said. He turned and quickly ran up the stairs. "James what is this rivalry about?" Serena asked me. "Rivalry?" "Yes, Darien has been going rounds with you from day one, why?" "A foolish concept that Earth's royalty has come to believe and pass judgment on, and that concept is standing in my way," I said. "What concept is that?" she asked. "The concept that..." I realized what I had almost just done. "Uh...never mind." "Well! The Admiral James Geo caught with his tongue in a knot?" Lita asked. "James, allow me to be blunt," Raye said. "We already know." "Know what?" "Darien has already told us." "Ah! Well then I feel so much better knowing that the poor little rich boy has probably distorted my every word," I said. I grabbed my sword handle and tossed the blade up in the air, as it was coming back down I executed a round house, snap kick that launched the blade towards the door with alarming speed and buried it into the steel door up to the hilt. The scouts were amazed by the display of skill. I then held out my hand and motioned for it to return to me. The sword flew back to my hand. "I don't think he distorted anything," Amy said, "but he did make it quite a riddle. We had no idea which of us it was until you invited me down here tonight." "Well then, what did he say?" "His exact words were something to the effect of 'he's in love with one of you, but I'm not going to let him change a law so easily, he'll be challenged to the point of defeat.' Yup, that's it," she finished. "Is it true?" Serena asked. "What?" "Do you love Amy?" "That's what I was told," I said smiling. "What you were told?" they asked, almost in unison. "When I first met the five of you, after the blows had been exchanged, I still felt a fire inside of me, much like the anger I had felt before, only this fire just hurt. It was difficult to breathe, even more so to concentrate on any one specific task. When you left, I asked grandfather, Jebidiah, to define it for me, I had never felt that way before. He told me it was love." "Well, isn't that romantic?" Luna, Artemus, and Jebidiah said coming down the stairs into the hangar. I stared at them with an arched eyebrow. "And you are?" "We're the elders of the counsel, and you're being challenged." "What?!?!?" "Conveniently, for the same crime of which you just spoke." I tightened my jaw. and tightened my grip on my sword. grandfather backed away from me and motioned for the others to do the same. "We'll hold a hearing tomorrow evening, no representation allowed, just you versus..." "Darien..." I rasped angrily. "James, control yourself, you're not at home anymore and you can't throw these temper tantrums whenever you get pissed off." I shifted my gaze to him, my eyes began glowing bright blue, and my veins stood out on end. "Is it a temper tantrum now? Before it was a display of power. Is it a temper tantrum when a man is denied access to the very thing that created him? ANSWER ME!" I shouted. The counsel jumped backwards. "If you wish to change the law, you can plea your case tomorrow evening." "That...will...be...all..." I said. I clenched my teeth and clutched at my sides as an immense pain began filling me, originating from those points. They turned and started to leave as I fell to my knees. My muscles started heaving and sweat was pouring off of me in my effort to contain the agonizing pain. "GRAH!" I yelled. The counsel stopped and turned to face me. "James?" Grandfather asked. "James, what's wrong?" Amy started to walk towards me. That's when it happened. "GYAH!" I shouted and lifted my head to face the ceiling just as my sides seemed to explode, spattering blood, and destroying both of my hands. I fell to the floor unconscious.  
  
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I woke up in the infirmary with a bandage around my abdomen. Darien, Jebidiah, the princess, and the scouts were waiting. I groaned and sat up. "What the hell just happened?" I asked. "Your power," Grandfather said. "It was trying to reach it's full potential in your anger, however, an element must be missing. There must be some level that you need to attain before they can reach their maximum," he said. "It felt like something was inside me, a creature of some sort." "Yes, the X-rays taken of your skeletal structure showed something quite odd. It appears that you have two sets of shoulders. One in the normal position and one right above where your sides exploded, perhaps upon reaching your utmost power level you require a shape shift," he said. I climbed out of bed and stretched. I touched the sides where the wounds were. "That's odd," I said. I looked at my hands, they were completely intact. I then removed the bandage, the wounds were sealed shut, although scarred. "Apparently there's a healing capability as well." "So it would seem." "James what's going on?" Amy asked. "Well, Amy, apparently I have more power than I thought. Although, I'm not quite sure why, or where it came from." "Perhaps this could help," Grandfather held up a diamond. "A gem?" "Not just any gem, James. This is the imperium silver crystal, it matches the one in your father's sword exactly, except his is golden. There are two more of these gems as well, the apollo crystal, and the crimson crystal. Legend has it that they were created at the dawn of time, and would become empowered when joined with the savior of our people." "Savior?" I said. "You mean to tell me that you think I am a savior." "That's correct." "And that's bullshit," I said. "I'm a Marine, like my father before me, I will live and die on the battlefield as he did before me, I will sacrifice my life to defend the crown and the people for which that crown stands. However, I'm not a religious messiah, I'm not a demi-god, and most certainly I am not a god. I'm a Marine, end of discussion." "For you, perhaps, but what about your meditation, did you not see a man with four arms, a tail, closely resembling a dragon?" "Maybe I did, but it wasn't me!" "Oh, James, grow up and learn to accept things that you cannot change." "I told you once before, Grandfather, there is nothing that I cannot change." "Well then, you can prove it in the counsel hall in one hour," Darien stood up with him and started to walk out the door. I stopped him. "You haven't won yet, scumbag." I said. He smiled at me and shook himself free of my grasp, walking out of the room. "Oooh am I gonna enjoy pounding his face into the ground." I said as I redressed myself. "Amy, Trial by fire as not been eliminated yet, has it?" "No, James, it hasn't. But does it have to come to that?" "I can't out talk him, Amy, but I can out fight him." "Trial by fire is to the death." Serena said. "Don't worry, Princess, I may be a heartless war dog as far as he is concerned, but I've still got a few tricks up my sleeve." I smiled. I then walked down to the counsel hall pulling my hair back in it's usual pony tail. "This session of the trial of Jamison Geo, Admiral of the Imperial Fleet will now come to order," Grandfather said. I kicked the tip of my sword sheath with my heel and caught the blade as it shot out, launching it, blade first into the steel floor, with a flick of my wrist. "James, allow me to be blunt with you," Artemus started. "The counsel is not pleased with you at all, first and foremost, your threats of martial law. Secondly your dis-interest in political beaurocracy, and finally this recent act of attempting to court a guardian," he chuckled. "All of these acts within a forty-eight hour period, I might add." "Well, your honor, if the counsel would bring itself up to speed with current theories and events, I might be more interested in partaking of it's rituals. However, when the military is in the stellar age, and the counsel in the renaissance ages, it makes things rather difficult," I said. "Now we're adding slander to the list?" "No, your honor, slander is defined as a non-truth told with the sole purpose of degrading the victim's character. I have not told a lie, and I mean no harm, it's simply my opinion of the matter," I replied. "Well then, your opinions seem to be rather judgmental and harsh, James." "Well your honor, when one is outnumbered by those who would seek to destroy his honor and name, one is forced to defend himself accordingly." "Touché, James." He nodded. "So, back to the matter at hand, where do you stand on the issue?" He finished. "Well, your honor, I'm not very good at all this politician language, so I'll make it blunt. There are a great number of laws and ordinances still in existence from the days when royalty was proclaimed as deity. These laws are typically non abrasive with the current laws in existence, however every now and again, one of them becomes a thorn in someone's side. Most other civilizations are perfectly content to disregard the law, for the simple fact that they don't want to mess with the paper work, they just choose not to enforce it. I find it hard to believe that a civilization such as our own, the most advanced homo sapien race of people known to anyone, would let a measly little ordinance like this one become a thorn. A guardian shall not court? What rubbish is this? When a person is denied to feel the same emotions as their peers simply because their occupation frowns on it? To be blunt, that's childish. This is a matter that children squabble over, and even they have found that emotion cannot be restricted or contained, and this same rule applies to any emotion. Granted, some emotions have cause to be outlawed, per say. Anger and aggression, these emotions can take people's lives. Jealousy, dis-trust, these emotions can spark wars of galactic proportions. Love has never taken a life, it has created un-countable lives throughout history, but never once has someone killed another person and said: 'I did it out of love for them'," I said. "That's all I have to say." I finished and sat back down. the counsel looked very thoughtful at each other. "Darien, what say you on the matter?" "Well ladies and gentlemen of the counsel, I would have to say that although Admiral Geo's words today were very touching, and admirable concepts. They're only concepts, love cannot be proven to a degree worth risking the safety of a future queen's life. Think about it, should Sailor Mercury and Admiral Geo be permitted to love, and James were to be captured, imagine the consequences that Princess Serena might very well have to pay." "I imagine that whom ever tried to capture my grand son would be sorely outclassed, Darien, we don't pass judgment on hypothetical situations in this court," my grandfather said plainly. Darien nodded. "Okay, well then I have no case, because fortunately, thanks to this law nothing has transpired that would prove my point for you today. However should you remove it, it is beyond all doubt as far as I am concerned that the evidence will reveal itself shortly," he said. "And that is all that I have to say." He stepped back to his bench. The three figures turned their chairs towards each other and spoke silently. After a few passing moments they turned back to the crowd. My grandfather looked at me momentarily and shook his head. "After a short deliberation, the counsel has decided to reinforce the law. In the interest of the queen, the princess, and the kingdom the counsel has denied Jamison Andrew Geo courting rights of Amy of Mercury," he turned to me, "I'm sorry, James." "So am I, Grandfather," I replied drawing my sword. "Darien, you haven't beaten me yet, and I have three words that will be your downfall: Trial by Fire!" I smiled at him. "I couldn't beat you at your game, let's see how you fare, in mine." "Bravo, James, the counsel commends your persistence. Trial by Fire will commence tomorrow at noon." I sheathed my sword. Darien smiled and walked up to me, placing a hand on my shoulder. "You're only making this harder for the both of you." There was a great whooshing sound as my fist slammed into his stomach knocking the air out of him. his eyes bulged and his veins stood on end as he fought to regain his composure. "I will not be defeated, Darien," I whispered as I patted him on the back and walked away. He fell to his knees and vomited on the floor. I went down to the hangar and removed my shirt, drawing my sword and began practicing my moves. I had placed the silver crystal in the other end of the swords hilt, opposite the golden crystal that grandfather had spoken of. I practiced through the night without stopping.  
  
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The next morning I went to the battlefield early and stretched out. I removed my uniform and dressed in my gui pants and sash with leather sandals. I then practiced a few punches and kicks I placed my father's cross harness on and slid his sword into the sheath on my back. Then I sat down Indian style and assumed the meditation position with my eyes closed. After a few hours had passed I felt someone else's presence in the arena with me. I opened my eyes and saw Amy and the other girls waving to me. I smiled and waved back before closing my eyes again and resuming my meditation. Another hour had passed before the stadium began filling with people from all over. Darien also entered the arena and stood, leaning against the wall on the opposite side from me. I opened my eyes and stood up, staring at him. I reached back and pulled the pony tail holder out of my hair letting it fall down over my shoulders. I then re-adjusted it and stretched out again. After a few more punches and kicks I stood absolutely still, awaiting the counsel's arrival. "Man, this is gonna be a good one," Lita said to Mina and Raye. "Heck yeah! Darien's been training his fighting abilities as well, this will definitely be a good fight," Mina replied. "It'll either be incredibly short or incredibly long," Raye said. "James has the mind of a warrior and the moves to back it up, but Darien is incredibly sneaky and cunning and has his own set of moves to back that up. As long as James doesn't let him cloud his mind, he'll win hands down." "Will you guys stop it!" Amy and Serena both shouted at the same time. "I hope they don't get hurt too badly," Serena said. "Please, James, don't kill him," Amy said. "What's that supposed to mean?" Serena asked her. "Nothing, Serena, but you do remember the first time they met don't you? James just about took his head off." "Well, Darien's done a lot of improving since then, he really has buffed up, don't you guys think so?" "Well, yeah, of course he has. Still he doesn't even hold a candle next to James." "What do you mean by that?" "Well, Serena," Raye replied, "James is an experienced warrior who's been training for years upon years, Darien's a diplomat who trains in his spare time. James has the obvious advantage of skill. But Darien is more popular here, so he has home field advantage, all I was saying is that it'll be a coin toss." "You think so? I say my brother will knock him dead!" Jacob said from behind them. They turned. "Jacob!" Amy said giving him a hug. "What's going on here?" "James fell in love with Amy, Darien out spoke him in the counsel's hearing, so James challenged him to trial by fire." "Sucks to be Darien," he replied. He turned to the four men standing behind him. "Remember me talkin' about my little brother? That's him over there," he pointed. "Damn! Now that's one buff mother fucker!" "Yes, and that's your commander in chief that you're talking about." Serena told him. "You're kidding, he's what twelve years old?" "Thirteen, as of three weeks ago," Jacob said. "But I'll vouch for him, he's better than even I am," he laughed. "Apparently Prince Darien didn't get enough of that knuckle sandwich action the last time they met. You guys are about to see some incredible moves." The counsel stepped up to the podium. "Welcome citizens, this Trial by Fire will commence shortly. In this corner we have Jamison Geo, Admiral of the Imperial Fleet. And in this corner, Prince Darien Felinine." "Feli... no fucking way," I said as I repeated the name to myself. "He's uncle Vincent's kid? Impossible!" I said. "And with that being said, let the trial begin!" The gavel slammed on the podium marking the battle's beginning. Darien drew his sword and gained a stance, I walked calmly over towards him. "Bring it on, war dog," he said. "I've got a few new tricks up my sleeve, HYA!" He leapt at me and swung the sword down. I held up my finger and thumb and caught his blade neatly between them. I looked at it up and down. "Hmm. Excellent craftsmanship, Darien, I am impressed!" I lifted my foot and slammed it into his chest, knocking him backwards into the wall with the sword blade still in my hand. I drew mine and flipped it in the air grabbing my blade like I did his and flung them both at him. He stood up just as I released the blades. They slammed their points into the wall on either side of his face. He sighed a breath of relief and rushed at me a second time. This time he got me, he threw a phantom punch over my left shoulder immediately followed up with a second upper cut placed under my chin. The force was enough to flip me backwards. I landed on my chest and rolled out of the way before his foot landed on the spot where my spine had been moments ago. I flipped back up and blocked a punch that he threw. I spun around lashing him in the face with my pony tail. He grabbed it, and pulled, hard. I used the force to flip backwards and plant my foot in his backside bouncing off of him and launching his body to the ground like a rag doll. That's when I saw the hair sticking out from his fist, I reached back and touched my head, it burned and when I pulled my hand back there was blood on it. "Oh hell no, he's a dead man," Jacob said. "What?" Serena replied. "James loved his hair, he's never cut it more than an eighth of an inch at a time, It looks like the Prince has just made his last mistake," I walked over to Darien and lifted him up by his hair. I spat in his face. "You just died, mother fucker." I said. I wrapped my other arm around his throat and cradled the side of his head with my open hand in preparation to snap his neck. The crowd cheered uncontrollably. I heard two voices over the whole crowd. "James no!" Serena yelled. "Don't do it!" Amy shouted. I lifted him up and dragged him over to the front of the counsel. They stood up. "What are you doing, James?" My grandfather asked. "Proving a point," I replied. Darien struggled to free himself. "What point?" he choked out. "Shut up, dead man." I punched him in the kidney and head butted the back of his head. He groaned in the pain. "Have you had enough, Darien?" "I'm still alive," he choked out again. "You don't have to die, ya know," I pointed out. "Just tell the counsel that you retract your argument and tell them to disregard the law and you will be released." "You'd like that, wouldn't you?" "No, personally I'd love nothing more than to snap your neck right now," I tightened my grip on him, causing him to yelp in pain again. "However, Serena has asked me to spare your life, and Amy doesn't like seeing bloodshed," I said. He elbowed me in the ribs multiple times with both arms causing me to lose my grip, he followed that up with a round house kick that launched me across the arena. I got back up to my knees before he rushed me and slammed his foot into my face, flipping me backwards again. My vision was blurring and blood was pouring out of my nose, and a gash on my forehead. I felt my fury rising as I struggled to get back up to my feet. He drew his sword from the wall and walked back over. "The law is final, James," he said, right before he slammed his fencing saber into my chest. I smacked his hand away and kicked him back away from me. Blood started trickling from the corners of my mouth and I could taste it. I pulled the sword out of my chest and snapped it over my knee. I had lost? How could this be? I was stronger, faster, and more talented than he was. Had my attempt to show him kindness cheated me? I motioned for my sword and it shot back to me. That's when I remembered the meditation at home, and the words I heard. I re sheathed the sword and struggled to regain my stance. Sweat poured off my body and my muscles were heaving once again to stay strong. I clenched my teeth and my fists before raising my head to the sky and shouting. "GEO CRYSTALIS POWER!" The shout seemed to radiate from the heavens above us. That's when my wounds sealed themselves shut and I felt the pains in my sides again. The scars stretched and stretched until two more arms had formed. I clutched my head and clenched my teeth tightly as the pounding grew worse and worse. A tail ripped through the back of my pants and my skin hardened into lizard's scales. My face elongated into a snout and my eye's pupils became like slitted paper. Finally it was over. The entire crowd had silenced and stood up. The cigar fell out of Jacob's mouth as he stared. My grandfather stood up and stared at me. "It's complete," he whispered to himself. "What the fuck are you?" Darien asked. I snarled at him as I centered him in my sights and crouched down in preparation for an attack. He rushed at me and brandished four roses in his hand. He then flung them at me with alarming speed. They all stuck into my hide, but it didn't even slow me down. I leapt on him then grabbed him with all four hands, jumped up into the air and flung him to the ground again. He landed face first and bounced up, rolling over and landing on his back, completely unconscious. I landed beside him and drew my sword, holding it over him in preparation to stab him through the chest. That's when Amy stood up and screamed through the silence. "NO, James don't do it!" I turned to face her and snarled again. everyone in her vicinity cleared the stadium. However when I saw her I stopped. My eyes returned to normal and my warriors blood subsided. Just then Darien kicked the sword out of my hand, grabbed it in mid-flight and swung down, hard, severing two of the four arms off. I quickly reformed into my human form and fell to the ground. "GEEYYAAHHH!" I screamed. I crawled away from him and rolled back onto my feet. "That's it, Darien, I've tried to reason with you, I've tried to go easy on you, you will not have it, so now you will die like the bastard you are!" I raised my hand. "GEO!" Everyone stood up to watch, Darien grew wide eyes and braced himself. "THERMAL!" I shouted. "Go little brother," Jacob said. "GRENADE!" I shouted. A fireball formed at the palm of my hand and launched itself at Darien, he braced himself, using the sword to block the fireball, it struck the blade and exploded launching the blade back to my good hand. I summoned my power and regenerated my other arm. After a few wiggles of the fingers to test it, I smiled and rushed at him. I landed my foot at full throttle into his chest launching him up into the stands. As per the rules, the crowd picked him up and threw him back down into the arena. I grabbed him by his hair and helped him to his feet before grabbing him by the back of his neck and slamming the heel of my foot directly into his spine. Everyone heard the sickening crack that followed. He slumped to the ground screaming in the pain. I rolled him over. "I...I can't feel my legs!" I bent over him, resheathing my sword. "Would you like me to fix that, Darien?" I said. "I've broken your spine and you're now a paraplegic, but I can heal you also, just as I did last time." "You bastard! That's blackmail." "No it's not, that's the price of retaining your life." "What?" "Tell them and I'll heal you. Refuse, and I'll finish you off right now, it's your choice." I shrugged. I held up my hands indicating silence. "I THINK THE GOOD PRINCE HAS SOMETHING HE WISHES TO TELL THE COUNSEL!" I picked him up by his under arms. he looked up at the counsel. "I step down from my argument. James has beaten me, change the law," he said. Serena and Amy looked at each other smiling, and embraced each other. I lifted him up over my head holding his waist band in one hand and placing my other hand underneath the spot where I had snapped his spine. I focused my energy and Darien's body began glowing bright blue. I lowered him to the ground and he stood up on his own. He looked down at his legs and then back up at me and shook my hand as the girls ran down. Serena jumped into his arms and they embraced in their own little time warp. Amy slowed down as she neared me. "You know, James," she said, "you never answered me before." "What was the question?" "Is it true?" she asked. "Yes it is," I replied seriously. "I've never had anyone willing to die for me before, especially when I hadn't even answered them yet." "I didn't need your answer to tell me how I felt, Amy. I was raised to stand up for what I believe in, and not back down to anyone." "Well then, I've been a guardian since I was little, exactly how does this courtship thing work?" she asked. "I'll explain it to you later tonight, if that's okay." "Just name a time and place." "How about the hangar, at seven o'clock," I said smiling. "That'd be great," she said. Then she ran forward and wrapped her arms around me, burying her head into my chest. I returned the gesture. "Great show little brother," a voice behind me said suddenly. "Oh hell no," I said. Amy backed away a step and smiled at me as I whipped around and faced Jacob. He ran a hand through my long hair. "Man, you even healed your hair do," he said. Then he stood at attention. "Five Star, attend-shun!" he shouted. The four behind him stood erect like he did. He saluted. "Five Star special ops team reporting back from training sir." I returned the gesture. "Carry on, men," I said. "Yes, sir!" They replied and walked off to begin their leave time. I turned back to Amy. "Well then, I guess I'll see you at seven." "I'll be there," she smiled at me. "Okay then," I replied. Darien stepped up behind me. "Well war dog, you fought for the right to do it, so kiss her already!" I smiled at Amy before lifting her chin win the cleft of my finger gently and pressing my lips to hers softly. When I pulled away she smiled at me for a second then turned around and ran off to join the princess and her fellow scouts. That's when a warning siren went off. I snapped back to reality and glanced skyward just in time to see a single squadron of enemy fighters zoom past the palace.  
  
* * * * * I ran to the hangar at full speed and looked around. "You can't tell me that there's not one single fighter jet in here?!" I yelled. Then I spotted it in the back corner under a large cloth tarp. I ripped the tarp off and opened the cockpit, jumping inside. A voice responded. "Proto-type moon cruiser on-line. What is the status of this voyage?" "War," I replied, flipping a few switches and igniting the engines. I launched out of the hangar at break-neck speeds and went skyward. "Eleven enemy craft detected." "Thanks for the heads up," I replied, grabbing the flight stick and flipping around in pursuit of the fighters. "Um, Jacob, has your brother ever flown a moon cruiser?" "No, why?" "Well I guess there's a first time for everything," Sid Steffano pointed at my ship gaining on the enemy. "Good lord, is there anything that you can't get right, Jimmy?" I spun around and went into a roll avoiding enemy fire and returning fire, destroying three ships. The crowd stopped running and watched in amazement. "YEEEHAAAAAA!" I shouted as I trailed after the other eight ships. I fired a couple of shots and hit the two leaders. The explosions blinded the other pilots and all except one collided and detonated in the air. The other one shot towards me, cannons blazing. Three blasts hit the ship and destroyed one of the engines. I opened the cockpit and stood up. The enemy fighter pulled up right alongside of me. I pointed a finger at the cockpit. "GEO SNIPERBOLT DISCHARGE!" I shouted. A laser beam shot through the glass shield and killed the pilot. The ship went out of control and slammed into the ground a few miles away. I jumped back into the cockpit and landed the craft in the courtyard. I was immediately surrounded by Alpha flight who hoisted me into the air and started cheering. Later that day I went to the throne room to talk to Serenity. "Serenity, you missed one hell of a show today," I said. She smiled back at me. "So I hear, James. But I'm concerned about that attack." "Long range sensors don't show any other ships in the vicinity, Serenity. I've got three factories busy right now rebuilding the fleets vehicles. We'll be ready for them next time. I've already sent word out to the other battalions in the corps to begin flight sim training, in one weeks time we'll have a battle ready fleet three times the size of the MDT. In addition to that, my brother's black ops team took the flagship early this afternoon to place probes in every planet's orbit in this system, we'll know if they start massing an armada." "Sir," a voice came over my radio. "What's up?" I replied. "We've detected a small armada gathering just outside the system, sir." "How much time do we have?" "About three days before they arrive." "Activate the automatic defense network." I pulled a key out from under my shirt it was on a chain around my neck. "Serenity?" "Do it," she said. I stuck it in the slot on the wall and twisted it. The alarm sounded. "Martial law has now been declared by order of Queen Serenity. Admiral James Geo has been given supreme authority until the military emergency has subsided," an automated voice sounded throughout the palace. I saluted and walked out of the throne room and headed straight for the hangar area. Alpha flight was in the hangar preparing the first fifty fighters that had come off the assembly line. I walked over to my bay and removed my shirt climbing under the ship and began repairs on the engine.  
  
* * * * *  
  
For the next two days we prepared the headquarters facility and worked on the fighter jets. Amy and the scouts helped out as much as possible, and before the two days had lapsed, the computers in the HQ were controlling the automated defense net and the ships were finished. Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon flights had received their ships and were on stand-by as well. The HQ's walls were lined with racks, shelves, and cases with weapons and armor inside. Everything was moving like clock-work. Serenity had me called into her chambers along with the princess and the scouts. "What's up, Serenity?" I asked walking in. "How fares the preparations?" "Well, Alpha through Epsilon flights are up and running with equipment. The HQ is prepped and ready." "And the men?" "They're psyched, Serenity." "What?" Darien asked. "They're excited?" "Absolutely, Darien, this is what we war dogs live for," I said. "To be perfectly honest I'm looking forward to the battle myself," I shrugged and smiled. "You're so morbid," he replied, flinching in disgust. "It's a dirty job, but someone's gotta do it." "You'll be leading the attack, then?" "Negative, Daniel will be leading the attack. I'm taking a surprise entrance. I found something that my father had built in his era as Admiral, he must have forgotten about it, it would have saved the entire MDT had he used it." "What?" "A large carrier ship armed to the teeth with weaponry of all sorts and equipped with impereite powered force fields." I said. "I'll be driving that one, it also has a cloaking device which will allow me to sneak up behind them and obliterate them from there, while my men in their fighters keep their attention to the front." I said. "It's a simple diversionary tactic, but for such a small enemy armada it should work quite nicely." "Excellent. But I'm concerned for my daughter's safety. I was going to inform you of the preparations I had made." Another three sailor scouts stepped forward. "This is Sailor Pluto, Uranus, and Neptune. Pluto is the keeper of the time portals. My plan, is that should the kingdom fall, Pluto will open the door through time, and Neptune and Uranus will escort my daughter and the other scouts through, five hundred years into the future. Where they will keep watch over them there." "Excellent plan, Serenity, but it's hardly necessary." "Any method of saving my daughter's life is deemed necessary, James." "Agreed, I was just saying that it won't ever get that far," I said. "Now then if you'll excuse me, I have some final preparations to make before..." "Thirty seconds until atmospheric entry!" an urgent voice busted out over the radio. "Ditch that, time to go!" I turned and ran to the hangar where I took an elevator down to a secret sublevel and started the massive ships engines. I cloaked it and took off for the surface. Upon emerging into the air I saw the command ship and the armada of fighters waging combat on the moon forces, it was a stale mate. I took aim at the command ship's bridge and uncloaked. "Hasta la vista, mother fucker!" I fired one blast from the powerful cannon and watched the ship explode beautifully. I then opened up on the fighters, and within a five minute time period the armada had been destroyed. We suffered only thirty casualties from the battle, none of which were from Alpha flight. I intercepted a hail from Queen Beryl. "This message is for the Admiral of the Moon Kingdom. You have done well, young Geo, like your father you are a true warrior, devoted to your cause and rock steady. You have two years before my next assault, ready or not, here I come." I punched through the screen and snarled as I watched the blood seeping from the self inflicted wounds. "And I'll be ready for you." I replied. I landed the ship and walked to the throne room. "Excellent job, Admiral." Neptune and Uranus said as I entered. "We have two years before she launches her next wave." I said. "Yes, we heard the hail down here too. What's your take?" "She's got something up her sleeve if she's giving up the element of surprise." "Can we trust her?" "Absolutely, for now, I've got those scanners in place and they'll let us know if she decides to pop in early." "We need more fighters." "My thoughts exactly," I said. "Darien, you're a fairly well known person, can you do some advertising for me?" "Absolutely," he said. "Great. What other options do we have?" "What about static defenses?" Amy asked. "We could set up laser cannons and shields in strategic locations to weed out some of the fighters and ships before they even get here." "Great idea, I'll send Jacob's men to get on it immediately." I turned to Amy, "And by the way, I apologize for the interruption, but I need to see you in my office sometime today," I said. "It's a matter of defense that I need your help on." "James, do you have a plan?" "Perhaps. It's a long shot but it just might work," I replied. I then saluted and walked out of the throne room back to my office.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Amy met me later that night and we discussed the plans I had made in secret. For the next year things went well, the static defense net was placed into effect and the MMC had increased it's strength exponentially. We had fifty-six flights battle ready by that point, and twelve more flights awaiting vehicles. The one Warhammer (as we had dubbed the proto- type star destroyer), became a fleet of twenty destroyers, all of which were completely staffed and battle ready. Amy and I became much closer as time passed. We were becoming more and more popular among the people. The seven of us had become pretty much inseparable. One day I was on a site reconnaissance mission for a new battalion construction site. I went into the wilderness looking for a perfect site. That's when I found it, the wall that has haunted me all of my life. It was inscribed with ancient moon script, a language long forgotten in the kingdom, except for scholars and some higher ups in the military. Fortunately for me, I was one of those higher ups. That wall had things written on it that I wish to this day I had never read. One part was so vile, that I took my sword and scraped the ancient text off the wall and bagged it to take it back for carbon dating. I then took a picture of every last inch of that wall with a wide angle camera lens and hid the roll of film. I then flew back and sent the sample off. The carbon date came back as twenty thousand years old. I gave Daniel temporary command of the corps while I took some leave time.  
  
* * * * *  
  
"James is on leave?" Jebidiah said as Amy stood by "That's right, he took off without any warning at all." She said. "It's not like him to do that," she looked worried. "We can't find him with any of the satellites either." "You probably won't, it sounds to me like he's doing some personal reconnaissance of some sort," he said. "I did some checking, he sent a sample of rock dust to the lab for carbon dating just before he left, the carbon dating showed it to be twenty thousand years old." "I wonder what he found." "I don't know, but he's acting strangely." "Amy, we found him." A voice screeched over the radio. "He's on Earth, it looks like he's doing some black ops work," the voice said. "Put him on the screen in the elder's chamber," she replied. Instantly a picture of me on the top of a sky scraper came up on the screen. I held a sniper rifle in my hands peering through the scope. I then stood up and jotted some notes in a notebook and ran off. The satellites camera was hard pressed to keep up with me. I came to the edge of the tall building and leapt off the roof, landing on the neighboring rooftop. "What is he doing?" "It looks like he's tracking someone. Better not let Darien know where he is." "Who?" Darien asked walking in. He saw the screen. "That's my planet, what in the blazes is James doing there?" "We're not sure, it looks like reconnaissance." "For what?" Amy held a hand up to her mouth. "The queen's back-up plan," she said, "he's doing recon on the delivery area." She replied. "A city called Tokyo." "Ah, yes, a Japanese community, excellent choice." Darien noted. Just then a couple of guys started towards James. "Oh no, James has been spotted by the police." "What?" "What he's doing is illegal in most parts of the world, espionage of any sort is not permitted," he replied. "Well I don't think they're gonna catch him any time soon," they watched as I jumped into the moon cruiser and shot out of the atmosphere.  
  
* * * * *  
  
"Excellent work," I patted the dashboard of the cruiser and wiped the sweat off my brow. "The queen has good taste in scenery, however the area is easily accessible, and almost impossible to escape from, making it tactically worthless," I said to myself. "Mental note, when trailing the girls, stay out of sight of the local law enforcement, they don't like espionage." I took the map I had just made and stuck it inside the binder with the developed pictures of the wall in it. I landed my cruiser in the hangar and went up to HQ. "How's my brother doing?" "Not bad, James, he's located three candidates so far and he's already begun colonizing two of them." I smiled. "Excellent." Amy walked in. "Hey, James," she said. I turned and embraced her warmly. "So what'd you do today?" "Oh, nothin' really, just did some sight seeing in my time off," I smiled. She nodded. "What did you find that date's back twenty thousand years?" "How did you know about that?" "I got worried when you left, so I checked on your recent activities, the last forty-eight hours worth." "Yeah, well, I don't want to talk about it." I said brushing past her. I tightened my jaw and made my way up to my room, she followed me the whole way. "So that's it? You're not going to tell me why you were doing recon in Tokyo either?" "I can't, Amy, I just can't," I said. " I found a wall in the jungle when I was doing the recon for the black ops battalion area. The wall was covered in ancient moon script, and it told a story," I said. "It told my life story, from the day I was conceived, until the day I die," I said, she looked at me cock-eyed. "You've gotta be mistaken, James." "I'm not, I've double checked my translations, and rechecked my double checks, there's no mistaking what that wall was talking about." "Then I was mentioned?" "Throughout a good majority of it, yes." "So you know how I'm gonna die?" "I know what the wall said, and I'm not talking about it." "Why?" she shouted "Because I don't want to believe it!" I shouted back. Tears formed in my eyes. "I don't want to believe it." I stopped and turned suddenly kicking a chair into the wall, it splintered on impact and I fell to my knees sobbing uncontrollably. "I will not allow those things to happen," I said. She kneeled beside me and embraced me, kissing my cheek. "A Marine lowered to tears, this is a new one," she said. I smiled at the thought briefly. "Yeah, I guess it does seem kind of funny," I said. I stood up, "Amy, before I left home on Mars, I vowed that I would not be run by anything, destiny included." I looked at my hands. "If these hands can launch fireballs and heal paralysis, then they're plenty strong enough to turn fate in my favor," I said. "And I will sacrifice anything to do so," I said. "I know, James, that's why I love you. Most marines are content to simply fight the enemy, but you never stop fighting, you fight against everything that doesn't fight with you, the fates included," she smiled. "I like that." "You know what, if we have so much in common, why aren't we married?" "I don't know, you tell me," she replied smiling. I stopped for a second and reflected on what I just said. My mind went blank. "Um...what just happened here?" "I'm not sure," she replied, suddenly looking as lost as I was. "Did I just propose?" "I don't know, did you?" she asked. "Um...yeah...I guess I did." "What did I say?" she asked arching an eyebrow at me, genuinely lost. I pulled my dog tag chain out from under my shirt and removed one of the three rings from it. "I'm hoping you'll say yes," I replied, slipping it on her finger. She stared at it and then back up to me. "Um...what about the scouts?" "What about them?" "I'll have to leave them." "Not necessarily, Jacob and his friends will be taking your place for a few days." "Is that legal?" "Absolutely, Darien might not like it, but he'll deal with the massive amounts of testosterone for now," I smiled. "I arranged for the transfer of duties a few weeks ago, both Serenity and Serena agreed to it, temporarily of course. Just long enough for us to have a honey moon, and maybe for them to find another scout," I said. "I've been relieved of duty?" "As a scout? Yes, well not yet, but soon, if that's what you want." "But...my friends...James I don't know." "Amy, I can arrange for you to still be a scout, even after the wedding, but it won't be twenty-four hour duty like it is now." "Why not?" "Well, it's conflict of interest." "Who's interest?" "Well, I would hope it'd be your interest, I thought this was what you wanted!" "James, I love you, I really do, and I would love nothing more than to be whisked away to a lifetime of love and happiness in those strong arms of yours, but I have a responsibility to Serena, and a commitment to the scouts...I can't..." I stopped and faced the window. "Neither can I," I said. I turned back to face her. "I had these rings made for us, I had hoped we might wear them proudly soon." She tried to hand it back. "I just can't right now..." she said. "I'm sorry." "No...no...there's no apology necessary, Amy," I replied. "It was my bad, I mistimed it..." I stuttered. "James...if I asked you to give your rank...." I pointed to the dresser by the door. "It's in the top right hand drawer...on top of the tuxedo." I said. I walked back to the window and sat down in the chair. Amy put the ring back on. "Let me sleep on it." "Okay...no pressure, I just want your honesty..." I trailed off and stared out the window. "James, I love you," she said. I nodded "I love you too," I said. She turned and walked out of the room.  
  
* * * * *  
  
I woke up with a start the next morning, I was still in the chair facing the window. I struggled to remember what had happened the previous night, after the memories washed back over me, I started to get up. That's when I saw Darien standing in the door way. "Crash and burn, huh Ace?" He said. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes "Yeah, something like that." "Those five girls are inseparable, James, plain and simple." "Yeah, I kinda figured that one out," I said quietly. "She does love you though, you know that, right?" "Darien, stop beating around the bush already, what do you want?" "Um, I actually came here to console you on your recent, and seemingly only, flaw." "Really? Now that's novel!" I said. He smiled. "Yeah, I told her you'd say that." "Who? Amy sent you?" "Well, yes and no," he replied. "Oh man do I suck at these things." I eyed him "Come again?" "I said I suck at this stuff," he said. I walked up to him with a strange look on my face. "Darien? Did you just utter a few slang terms?" "Yeah, James, I did. I'm not always an uppity prick, you know." "No, I didn't know," I said. "I just thought that was you," I said. I changed shirts and lit a cigarette. "I didn't know you were human." "Well, then let me really blow your mind," he said, removing his cape. "Let me have a smoke," I smiled and tossed him my cigarettes and lighter. "So, what did she say?" "She told us about your proposal, and that she was tossing it over in her mind. Serena about killed her for not saying yes on the spot," he laughed. "You're the only one other than her who's seen me like this," he smiled. "I feel honored, Darien." "You know, James, you should. I don't give up my ego for just anyone," he said. He took a drag and then pointed at me. "But you, you're a legacy! Having your story printed on a twenty thousand year old wall..." "Who told you about that?" "Amy...she said it had you spooked big time, what's up with that?" "It just really sucks dick being given these amazing powers, these truly fucking miraculous gifts, and then being told that it doesn't matter, you're still gonna rot in hell for eternity," I said. Darien stopped. "That bad, huh?" "Worse, that's just as close as I could get." "So that's what's bothering you?" "Yup, that and for the first time ever I've had my own words slammed down my throat, and it wasn't by someone I thought of as an enemy," I said. "She's madly in love with you, James. She'd love nothing more than to marry you and become Mrs. Amy Geo, but that would mean chancing the loss of four of her best friends," he said. "She's got to set her own priorities." "What she doesn't understand is that I'm the commander-in-chief, and if I say she stays on as a scout even after vows are exchanged, then that's the way it'll be," I said. "She doesn't recognize that." "Yes she does, she doesn't want to play favorites. She's leaning your way anyway." "Really?" "Dude, do you think Serena hides anything from me? She can't stop talking long enough to hide anything that goes on between them." I laughed with him at the joke. "You know, Darien, I think I misjudged you, you're a good guy," I said, pulling my hair back and fixing it. I then sprayed some cologne on. "Why thank you, war dog, you're not so bad yourself," he winked as he walked out the door. "We'll discuss this more, later James. Oh hi, Amy," he said walking out obviously trying to alert me to her presence. She knocked and poked her head in. "Um, may I come in?" "Of course," I said motioning. "How did you sleep?" "Not very well," she admitted. "You?" "You know something funny, I don't remember going to sleep, but I woke up in the same chair just about fifteen minutes ago," I said. "Well, at least now I don't feel quite so bad." "About what?" "About last night," she said. She held out the ring. I swallowed and looked at it for a second, my breath had been knocked out of me. "Amy, I told you, that ring was made for you, even if you say no, keep it," she smiled. "Ask me again, try a different approach, it may change the answer," she said. "Really?" "It's possible," she said, "I need to be able to see myself not being able to live without you." She sat down on the bed. "So go on, Marine, give it your best shot, drag out the artillery cannons, launch an all out air raid." I took the ring and flipped it in the air, catching it in my fist. "Okay then, give me just a few minutes." I said. I grabbed a pillow case and tore a shred of fabric off. I draped it over her eyes and tied it behind her head. "Don't peek, you can take it off when I say I'm ready," I said. I dimmed the lights down and dressed in my tuxedo with my ribbons, ranks, and full military décor attached. I then lit a few candles I had placed in strategic locations. Next I went into the bathroom and grabbed a pair of scissors. I grabbed my pony tail in one hand and held the scissors up to it. I hesitated for a moment but then cut the pony tail off. I evened out the cuts and brushed it into position. Next I shaved as close as I could get it and slapped on a little bit of the after shave she had told me that she liked so much. Finally, I placed the ring in the black, silk covered, ring box that my father had used to propose to my mother. Next I turned on some music on a soft, classical station. I looked around the room checking the details with my scrutinous eyes. "James? what're you doing?" "Um...just getting everything set up." "For what? It's only a proposal!" "Hah! Yeah right, and Queen Beryl is only an un-liked acquaintance," I said. She laughed. "Okay, okay, are you ready yet? I'm getting goose bumps!" "Good, that means I'm close," I said. I did a final check up in the mirror and quickly extinguished the cigarette and sprayed my mouth with a minty breath freshener. Then I got down on my knee in front of her, I let out a deep breath. "Okay, I'm ready." She removed the blind fold with one hand, and her jaw dropped when she saw me. "James...your hair...you..." "I've spent a lot of time loving you, Amy, and I've given you my heart in it's entirety, you've been good to me from day one, and you've shown me that you will not be pushed around by anyone, not even your lover. And although it may not seem like much, I hope that me sacrificing my hair proves it to you." "James, you love your hair...you..." "I've never seen a woman more beautiful, or intelligent, in the few years I've lived thus far, nor do I care to search for any such woman. You've been right beside me through thick and thin, and in thanks for that, you have my heart, my soul, and my thoughts. In fact the only thing I have left to give you, is eternity. That's why I have no choice but to ask you to share your life with me forever, because without you, I'm not complete. Please be my wife." I held out the ring box to her. Her upper lip was quivering uncontrollably and a tear rolled out of her left eye before she raised her hands to her mouth. I lifted my finger to her cheek and wiped the tear away. That's when I heard a whisper from behind the door. "If she doesn't say yes now, I'm gonna kill her," I raised the finger to my lips and smiled at her looking over my shoulder. I walked back to the door slowly and quietly. "Well, what's she saying?" another voice whispered. "Nothing yet, after that poetic love confession, it wouldn't surprise me if she couldn't talk at all." I pounded my fist on the door suddenly, the sound scared the life out of the eavesdroppers, and there was a crash on the other side of the door as they fell over each other. Amy and I were laughing uncontrollably. "That wasn't funny, James!" Darien's voice floated through the wood work. "Ow, my ear!" They laughed on the other side of the door as well. Then I went back over to Amy and took her hands leading her towards the window. "I want to show you something," I told her. I opened the window and stepped out onto the palace roof top, she followed me out. "What is it, James?" I turned around and sat down on the roof, she joined me and I pointed out at the horizon. The sun was starting to set, and the sky was painted a multitude of brilliant colors. "Oh my god, it's beautiful." "Well then, that sets the final mood." I kneeled in front of her again with the ring box. "What do you say?" "How could I answer it any other way than yes," she said. I smiled. "Really?" "Absolutely, James. I love you." I quickly pulled the ring out of the box and slipped it on her finger one last time, before kissing her. "I love you too, Amy," I said taking a deep, slow breath. "Now then, next order of business is, bragging rights," I said. She laughed. "Why Admiral, you act as though you've landed a decent catch." "Well, Amy, there may be other fish in the sea, but the flavor of this one will last a life time, consider my rod and reel retired." I smiled and kissed her a second time. The door opened and the others poked their heads in. "Well, I guess that answers that one!" Darien said. "Congratulations war dog." Amy pulled away and looked at me strangely again. "Why, James, is that another tear I see?" she asked. I wiped my eyes with my finger, sure enough it was. "That's twice now that I've made a Cold Hearted Marine break down into tears." She said smiling. I stuttered. "I...I feel...oh boy..." I fell backwards onto my butt. "Darien, second drawer from the top on the right side." He opened it and tossed my cigarettes and lighter to me. I quickly put one in my mouth, but I couldn't steady my hand long enough to light it. Darien stepped up. "Allow me." He held the lighter for me. I lit it and inhaled deeply. "Much better, thank you." "James, you smoke?" Serena asked. "Only on occasions of high stress levels." "And this is a high stress level?" Lita asked. "I'd have thought you'd have been relieved," she said. "Please," I said holding my hand up, "don't get my tongue tied anymore than it already is right now." I flipped back up to my feet. That's when Serena gasped. "What is it?" They asked. she pointed. "His hair! He cut it all off!" "I know, he did it for me, isn't that sweet?" Amy swooned. I smiled. "Should I tell her I can regenerate it instantly?" I whispered to Darien. "I think I'd leave that part out, Jimmy." He replied smiling. "I like it short, don't you guys? You should keep it that way." Darien walked out from behind me. "And an excellent vintage of music, you amaze me again, war dog." "Yeah, I'm just full of surprises." I winked at him slightly and took a drag off my cigarette. He smiled. "Yes you are, so when's the wedding?" "Well, we have to make some arrangements first, decide on how a few different things are going to run from here on out first. For example, first and foremost, we're gonna have to develop a way of keeping her on the scouts without causing conflict of interest." "Sir, that's where we'll come in, sir." Jacob and his friends were dressed in class A uniforms complete with armament. "What?" "We'll post a perimeter guard, sir, Darien and Serena are also scheduled to be wed, so they'll be sharing a quarters together, He'll have a two way that he can contact us with." "Okay, what kind of pattern are we talking here?" "One door guard, one sniper and two on rest rotating on an bi-hourly basis." "Excellent, I assume the scouts will be the day guards?" "Yes, sir," they said. Amy turned me to face her. "I worked out the arrangements with them last night," I looked at Darien. "Is that so?" He held up his hands and took a cigarette for himself. "I was just a diversion to keep you in here, while they got set up out here." "Ah ha! So this was planned?" "Darien, when did you start smoking?" Lita asked. He looked around nervously, realizing his slip up. "Dammit!" He shouted. "Okay, I'm busted, I'm as much of freak as the rest of you people, okay! ARGH!" He walked away lighting the cigarette. "You didn't think I'd turn you down, did you?" Amy asked turning my attention back to the subject at hand. I cocked an eyebrow. "Well, you did have me quite shook up when you left last night." "I just had to get everything arranged," I rolled my eyes and groaned. "It's starting already!" I said. "I wear the rank, she gets the authority!" They all laughed.  
  
* * * * *  
  
The entire kingdom was alerted to the wedding plans within the next couple of days. Amy avoided the subject of the wall like the plague, and I appreciated that, I didn't want anyone to know the horrors that I had read upon that wretched wall, and enacted a quarantine around that sector of the jungle. Jacob, Sid Steffan, Jason Tilano, and Rocky Tenure (the 'Five Star' members) began their new duties immediately, leaving the scouts with more free time on their hands. Darien and Serena (also recently engaged) began sharing a quarters as did Amy and myself. As the wedding day drew nearer and nearer, I spoke to my grandfather more frequently. One day, the subject of my father's sword and golden crystal came up. "So, grandfather, where did he find these things anyway?" "Well, James, he never said where he found them, but he had just returned from a black ops mission when he was first seen with them, all he would tell us is he won them on the planet that had been unofficially dubbed 'Crystalis' by the black ops team. I guess they were on a recon mission of some sort. He began calling his sword 'The Bane of Crystalis' and the crystal began exhibiting it's power when they found you, shortly before actually," he smiled. "James, I have to ask, when you saw that wall, did it tell you who your real parents are?" "Yes," I said, looking at my feet. "I am a Geo, but by marriage only," I said. "Mother had an affair." He nodded and smiled again. "I thought so, you're not going to tell us who your father is, are you?" "Nope, because soon enough, he'll show up again, and I'll have to kill him, two or three times, actually," I said smiling. "It must run in the family," I said. They all laughed at the joke. Amy and Serena turned to face me. "You never said anything at all to anyone about that wall, why now?" "That's not the part I refuse to talk about," I said. "That part doesn't come for...thirty years time from now, give or take." I said staring at my drawn sword. "Well, what does it say about me before that point?" Amy asked. I smiled. "Let's see, it described you as beautiful and headstrong, a true leader at heart, but that strength won't be revealed until you get back from...." I stopped and trailed off. "Um...never mind." "Earth," she finished. I nodded slowly. "You will all be sent to Earth the day of our wedding," I said. "At least that's what the wall says, I plan on setting up an intervention party," I smiled. "They say that knowledge is power, and I plan to exert that power to it's fullest." "So, she dies, doesn't she?" Serena asked. "My mother, I mean." I looked her in the eye, and my voice was shaky as I replied. "Not if I have anything to say about it." "Yeah, Serena, relax, if anyone here is capable of beating fate, it's James." Darien said. "That's true," Grandfather said in response. "I will now tell you a little secret, James." He smiled. "I know everything that is on the wall of prophecy, as well as the man who created it," he said. I stared at him. "You...knew the whole time?" "I belong to an ancient, forgotten religion that gave birth to several of the moon's most famous prophets," he said. "Oh! I know this one, that's the...the...Shao Lin!" Amy said. "Later a few renegade members broke the laws of the temple and took it to Earth, creating the weaker strain of the Shao Lin that studied the art of Kung Fu," she finished. Grandfather smiled. "Perfect text book answer, Amy," he smiled. "My mentor and teacher, Vincent Felinine Sr. spent a long time in a meditation trance before he carved that wall. He set the record of ten years in trance, many of our counsel had thought that he was dead." "What? You...you...you mean to tell me, that that wall is a prophecy?" "Yes." "That can't be true, because that would make me a..." I trailed off. "Savior." Darien finished with his jaw dropped. "James is a messiah?" "Not a messiah, Darien..." my jaw tightened. "I'm not a Savior..." I said. "I can't be a Savior." I repeated through clenched teeth, "a Savior would be able to stop the destruction of his entire race, and then himself." "What?!?!?" Serena, Amy, and Darien asked. "My final enemy will be an evil spirit named Onyx, and he will assume the form of someone close to me. He will invade my life and covertly kill everyone close to me, when I figure out who it is, he will go berserk and wipe out the entire population of this kingdom with one blow, before challenging me to a fight that I cannot win. With my last breath I will awaken the only force in existence that can weaken him to the point of mortality," I said through clenched teeth, never removing my pain stricken eyes from grandfather's solemn face. "Later, the kingdom will be revived, but I will remain dead, fortunately another man will step forward, also an Earthling, but with amazing powers that make mine look like a child with a slingshot. He will challenge Onyx in his mortal weakness and destroy him," I smiled. "Fortunately for me, I get the chance to meet him first." Grandfather stood up and stared hard at me. "James, you listen to me, and you listen good. That wall is a prophecy, but prophecy is not fate, it is merely a vision rendered to us from a higher power. Most of the time, they end up being warnings. I would heed this warning well, because if you don't...you will share your father's fate," he said. I shot to my feet. "As a Failure?!?!?" I shouted the question. "Perhaps, old man, you didn't hear me the first time I said it... I WILL NOT FAIL!" I was breathing heavily. "I loved my father more than anyone else could have...but he was stupid...he lost his nerve, his intuition, and as a result...he lost his life, and left my family alone." I looked back at him. "And with God as my witness, I will not repeat his mistakes, I will not re- live his failures, and I will not fail this kingdom, when my father shows up on my wedding day I will rejoice when I watch his heart stop beating in my fist...I will destroy his armies and send him home with the same courtesies he gave Johnathon," I said, I was shaking uncontrollably as my fury rose. "And should he still manage to kill Serenity and send the girls to Earth, I will hunt that mother fucker down myself and tear him limb from limb with my bare hands..." my eyes began glowing blue and electricity arched all across my body. My voice deepened as I finished my speech. "And I welcome anyone who would like to say otherwise," I smiled. "I will not be beaten, I will not be defeated, and I will not give up my family for anyone!" I said. My eyes returned to normal as did my voice. "To be honest, grandfather, I'm not sure I want some of those events to change." I said. "There are a few of them...Serenity's death, Amy's death, Serena and Darien's death...I do want those to change... but not before I find the mother fuckers responsible and kill them the same way they would have my friends and family. Jettison Vamprexa's body into space while he is still alive. Shoot Felinine in the lung and both knee's so that I can watch him slowly begin to drown on his own blood. And most importantly of all, Verago... I would do things to him the likes of which I won't even speak of... like shackle him to a wall and force him to watch, helplessly..." "James, that's enough." "As I castrate his son, rape his wife and daughter, and then hang them in front of him so that he too can see the life slowly draining from their pained and ravaged bodies, all because I think it's going to break his spirit. Only, after I'm finished, I will break every last bone in his body one by one, starting with his toes, and ending with his skull." I said. "You've said enough, James." "Have I grandfather? Felinine Sr. obviously didn't think so," I said. "How would you like it if I erected a wall in the middle of the kingdom stating everything, both good and bad that will ever happen to you and anyone you grow close to," I said. "James...I..." "You what? Grandfather, the point is...I DON'T WANT TO KNOW!" I said before breaking into an explosion of tears. "What do you think it feels like having nightmare after nightmare, helplessly watching everything you've ever held dear ripped away from you and then dying without ever having a word to say about it...You want to know what it feels like?" I said. "It feels empty!" I shouted. "That wall has stolen every sense of happiness I will ever have, grandfather...because I know that if I don't stay sharp and keep my eyes open...I'll lose it in only a few short years...and you did nothing...you...hid it from me...but...I found it...and...and..." I began breathing heavily as my fury skyrocketed to new heights. My body seemed like it was on fire, completely covered in flames of a blue color. Veins bulged all over my body as I struggled against the images flooding my mind. I clenched my teeth as tight as they would go and strained my every ounce of strength and energy against them. Everyone in the courtyard began backing away quickly. I heard a rumbling begin inside my stomach, gradually it grew louder and louder until I threw my head back and let loose the final attack on the images, screaming a battle cry in the exhibit of power. "I WILL NOT FAIL, AAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!" The stone pillars holding up the shelter cracked and the marble walk way on which we stood was ripped from the ground and began circling around me. The battle cry continued erupting from my lips as the energy levels rose higher and higher...the stone pillars cracked even more and chunks fell off of them. Finally, the rooftop lifted off the pillars and shot into the sky, straight up until it was like a flying ant. That's when my battle cry ceased and I stared straight up at it. I placed my hands both off to my right and behind my back, channeling all of the energy I had just summoned into a concentrated ball. "GEEEEEEOOOOOOO..." "Um, guys, take cover..." Darien said. They all nodded and ran , jumping behind the stone wall on the walkway. "CRYYYYYSSSSTALLLLLLLLISSSSSSS..." "Oh shit!" Amy said ducking down as much as she could, they saw the rooftop falling straight towards me. "BLASSSSSSSSSSST!" I shouted, thrusting my palms up at the falling, twenty ton rooftop. An absolutely enormous blast of energy left my body in a continuous stream and shattered the rooftop to the extent that there was no debris left to fall to the surface. Finally, I just stood there, with my palms still pressed together, smoke was raising in wisps from my hands, my chest was heaving with the energy drain. I stared at grandfather, as everyone who had seen the blast came running to see what had just happened. "Let that be a warning to anyone else who feels the need to piss me off," I said. "I will not be defeated, point blank," I said. Everyone around nodded dumbfounded. I walked back over to them as the rest of the scouts ran out. "What was that?" They asked breathlessly. "Just a warning shot," I replied smiling at Amy, they started chuckling. "I didn't know we had a weapon with that kind of output," Lita said staring up at the remnants of the smoke in the sky, then she stopped. "Wait a minute..." Raye said, looking at me. "Was that you?" "Yup," I said, "I decided that the courtyard needed a sunroof." "James, where does all this power come from?" Darien asked. "I don't know for sure..." I drew my father's sword and stared at the golden crystal on the hilt, "but I have a good idea," I said. "Grandfather, was Crystalis charted?" "Absolutely, however it hasn't been mapped yet," I nodded. "I'll send a carrier on the mission right away, we need that planet and all other inhabitable planets in that system mapped, yesterday," I said. "Why?" "Just in case," I said. "Should Felinine arrive on time and be victorious, it'll make a nice relocation spot for this kingdom. I'll have a colony established immediately." I looked at the sky and raised the sword quickly in a silent salute. "Thanks, dad!" I said. Grandfather smiled and shook his head. "You're something else, James," He said. "Even when fate stares you down and tells you that if you cross a line you will die, you still cross it with your guns blazing, and somehow you always manage to come out victorious...you are powerful indeed, and I don't think that even your exhibit here today was your maximum." "Nope...well in this form it was, this puny little rock couldn't tolerate my absolute maximum, however when I find that monolith on Crystalis, I'll try it there." I said. "You want the Impala..."Grandfather said in awe. "The what?" Raye asked. "A mythical suit of armor, legend has it that the four imperium crystals and the suit of armor know as 'The Impala' are bi-products of a promise that the Transient Lord made eons ago. He promised all of his creations that when his evil counterpart, Onyx returned to the mortal realm that a hero would be summoned to defeat him and send him back to the darkness once more, but only if he could attain the five elements that will unlock his power...James, that wall, did it say that the hero was you?" "Exactly, and if my calculations are correct, the other three elements to my power are temporarily connected and will remain so for about three more weeks before they move on yet again..." I said trailing off. "I can't afford to miss this opportunity." I said. I hit my two way radio. "HQ, this is James, come in." "We read you loud and clear, James, what's up?" "I need the Exodus MP2 loaded with construction supplies, initial colonization supplies, and the necessary staff and people." "Where's it headed?" "Crystalis." "Huh? Never heard of it." "It's charted, but it's not mapped, hostility should be minimal, but send a battalion just to be on the safe side, oh...send the 3rd Alpha Battalion," I said. "Are you sure, James?" "Absolutely, should we get tagged that's the home base," I said. "Got it, James, It should be ready to depart by nightfall." "Excellent. Tell the commander he needs to locate a monolith as soon as he arrives and send back it's co-ordinates as soon as the computer finishes the map." "Roger that, James...expecting company?" "Not really, just giving us a back door," I replied. "Really? Wow, playing it safe really isn't your forte, James." "Yeah, I know, just thought I'd give it a shot, see what it felt like." "Pretty disappointing aint it?" "You have no idea," I replied laughing. He laughed with me. "Later, James." "Yeah, later," I said smiling. "Oh he's a character." "What's going on?" Mina asked. Amy just looked at her. "Trust me, you don't want to know," she said. "To be quite honest, I didn't want to know either, but I found out against my will," Everyone nodded in agreement. "Long and short of it," I said. "I saw into my future, got pissed off, blew the roof off the courtyard, and then found a way to fix it." Raye cocked an eyebrow. "What? The courtyard?" "No, Raye...the future." "Oh, okay," she said. "And that's where Crystalis and this 'Impala' comes in?" I nodded. "It's part of it anyway, that's only in case the prevention measure fails," I said lighting a cigarette and inhaling deeply. "Hopefully, the initial colonization will be as far as it goes, but we might have to pack the kingdom up and go," I said. "But that's when we would be on Earth," Raye said. I nodded, inhaling again. "You don't honestly think I'm going to let you get to Earth and stay there by yourself do you?" She smiled. "I didn't think you'd let Amy go that easily," she said. "Amy, you lucked out on this guy, he's strong, powerful, sweet, rich, and you're stuck with him!" Amy smiled. "Yeah, I like to consider myself pretty lucky also," she replied. That's when I took in a deep breath. "You know what?" I said. "I'm in the mood to test out a proto type, care to join me?" I asked Amy. She smiled. "Sounds like fun." I smiled. "You have no idea, it's my variation of the moon cruiser. More horsepower, more firepower, and three times the speed." "What's the risk factor?" "Minimal, the worst thing that could happen is the life support generator could fail and we'd have to cut the trip short," I said. "Other than that, weapons failure is possible, but unlikely, and a possible engine failure, in which case I'd call for a tow," I shrugged. "Over all, it's just a joy ride." "Okay, just don't be out too long," Serena said. "I assume you'll have the five star fill in?" I rolled my eyes and raised my hands to face. I made a shrill whistling sound, and all five members came into view. I smiled. "They're never off duty," I replied. She nodded and looked impressed. "Well then, let's go," Amy said. I smiled and we headed off towards the hangar. Grandfather stopped me. "James, before you go, one more slight detail has come up in the book of laws," he said. He took a deep breath. "I went ahead and looked it up, just in case, but it is illegal to marry a guardian." I looked at Darien momentarily before smiling at him. "Good," I said, winking at him before we went back on our way. "You know, James, your over confidence is mind staggering," he said. "I know!" I shouted back at him. He turned to Darien. "You're not gonna do anything, are you?" he smiled. "I don't know yet, it might make a good ceremony opener," he scratched his chin. "Would I seriously hope to have any chance of beating him out? Not on a cold day in hell, but still, it might prove to be fun," he said. Serena looked at him. "Darien, he's kicked the living shit out of you twice now, if you haven't learned yet, you never will, and I will cry at your funeral," she said. The scouts laughed as did Darien. Serena finally laughed with them.  
  
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In the hangar there was a longer, sleeker looking space craft covered with a huge, cloth, dust-covered tarp. I ripped it off of the ship and tossed it to the side. "This is my other baby," I smiled. "The Moon Cruiser Lycanthrope. It's only a proto type right now, but this baby is fully loaded, and after it's debugged, a small fleet the size of the MDT would be able to conquer the universe armed with nothing but these things. Mirrored armor plating allows the ship to take multiple direct hits safely, as well as it's primary armament, my own design, a freezing laser Vulcan cannon that can loose rounds at a rate of 500 shots per second," I said. "The only real downside to the laser is it's ammunition and power consumption." "James, lasers don't have ammo." "Yes they do actually, you just normally don't have to reload it, ever." I pressed a button and a diamond about one meter across lowered from the bottom of the craft. "These diamonds are what the lasers use for ammo. Like I said, usually you'll never have to reload them, as a diamond can power a laser for undetermined amounts of time. However this laser fires so rapidly, that the diamond will sustain the laser for six hours of straight shooting time. Even still, that's a long time at five hundred shots per second," I said. "But on average, we estimate one diamond a month would do the trick. Fortunately, Crystalis has a monolith completely filled with this kind of diamond, so the initial colonization will also begin a mining operation." "Cool, so we have infinite ammunition for these weapons?" "Well, I wouldn't say infinite, but enough to last well beyond our time," I said. "Well, you ready to ride?" I asked, grabbing a couple of helmets and reloading the diamond. "Absolutely, let's see what this bad boy can do." I smiled and tossed her a helmet. She put it on and climbed into the co-pilot seat. "James, what other weapons does it have?" "Well it has multiple rocket launchers with a capacity of three rockets each, twin laser cannons just like the other models, and another proto-type weapon that I'm not going to test today, called a Geo-Moon Blaster. It's a weapon the likes of which no-one has ever seen or heard of before, and I plan on keeping it that way," I said, smiling. "The test would emit so much energy that everyone for galaxies around could pick up on the signature." "And that's a bad thing, right?" "That's an unthinkable thing. Legions of enemy troops from systems well beyond our long range sensor arrays would come to this location trying to find the source, and employ it in their armies, it's a natural strategic move, so the only way we'll ever be able to test it, is in battle, and only in a life or death desperation measure," I said shrugging. "Which kind of sucks, but until our military is ready for anything, I'm not gonna chance it." "What about Earth?" "What about it?" I asked. "Well would you use it there? If you had to defend us?" She asked. "Let's hope that situation doesn't come to pass." I said seriously. "Have you talked to Pluto yet?" "No, why?" "Well if you plan on following us back, you'll need her help." "No, I won't," I replied. "I know of a second doorway through time, that remains unguarded, yet unfound." "On the wall?" "Yup, detailing it's exact location, and how to get through...but, like I said, let's hope it never comes down to that." "James, I just want to be prepared." "You can't be...Amy, the time portal Pluto will take you through will erase your memory of everything you've ever known, and place your spirit inside an unborn child where the six of you will grow up as Earthlings some thousand years in the future." I flipped a few switches and the engines lit up. "And that's all she wrote." I pulled back on the flight stick and we shot out of the hangar like a bullet darting for the open skies. A radio contact came in on my head set. "Unidentified pilot, state your name and business." "This is Geo-Ranger one, HQ, I'm just running a few tests on the lycanthrope, over." "Oh, okay, well um, Geo-Ranger one, your after burners just blew a hole in the hangar wall, sir," I laughed. "They just don't build 'em like they used to, eh Daniel?" "No, guess not, James. Happy flying." "Thanks, get that wall fixed and brace the hangar for further missions, it won't do us any good to destroy our own facilities now will it?" "Hell no, it won't, who's your righty?" "Amy of Mercury, Daniel, don't ask don't tell." "Roger that, Geo-Ranger one, ride her hard, James...I mean the ship by the way." I laughed, and Amy's face turned red. "Always, Danny boy, over and out." I flipped the com-switch back to one way. "How fast are we going, James?" Amy asked gazing out the window. "Right now we're traveling at Mach ten, just below warp speed," I replied. "This ship is ten times faster than anything ever built by Earth."  
  
"Are you sure?" "Yeah, why?" "To your left," she pointed. I looked, and sure enough another fighter craft was staying neck and neck with me. the hail came in. "Unidentified craft, state your identity and business in the Earth sector." "Unidentified craft indeed!" I answered. "Don't you recognize a moon cruiser when you see one?" I asked. "So you're a Moonie, eh?" the reply came back. "Identify yourself, that's a military vehicle. I need your name, rank, and unit." "Fleet Admiral Jamison Geo, MMC Headquarters, now it's your turn." I turned the Vulcan and took aim. "Tell me who you are and you can fly anywhere you want, refuse, and go as a fireball." "This is Felinine Fighter craft prototype alpha, piloted by Vincent Felinine," the reply came back. I bit my tongue. "Well, well, well, so fate has presented me with a gift," I said. "James, isn't that your father?" "Yup, that'd be him, he don't know it yet though," I laughed. "He doesn't even know my name, although I'm curious as to how this works, because you see the wall says what happens, but it doesn't say the cause. If I open fire on him, he could survive and return during our wedding to take revenge, however if I don't open fire on him, he could be planning that assault even as we speak." "James, he's with Earth forces, they're not associated with the Negaverse, they wouldn't attack us without cause." "The Earth may not be associated, however, Beryl has corrupted more than one militarized force, where do you think she gets her pilots, you can bet they don't come from those black magic cards of hers. Although two of her generals are some of the most feared pilots ever known," I said. "Zoicite and Malakite, now those are some awesome dogfighters, their trademark maneuvers used to be mandatory flight training in the MDT academy." "James, Felinine?" She snapped me back to reality. "Oh, yeah, right...um...to kill or not to kill that is the question." "What's your gut tell you to do?" "Kill him," I replied. "Why?" "Well then the answer is simple, let him go, if you follow your instincts and open fire that would be just cause," She replied. "Yes, but if he's not associated with the Negaverse, he'll die." "And if he is?" "Then Beryl would pull him out, she won't let a pilot like him go to waste," I said. "Especially since he is so imperative to her mission. We'll leave him alone for now. Brace yourself dear heart, we're goin' to warp three." I flipped a switch and pulled back on the flight stick, launching the ship forward at an unbelievable speed. I slowed down as we neared the asteroid belt. "Why are we slowing down?" "Target practice, and weapons system analysis," I said. "First we'll test the initial set up. Lock and load, sights on, all weapon systems are go, loading first volley of missiles. Rockets away!" I said pressing the button on the flight sticks. "All missile bays are checked affirmative. Now then, auxiliary laser cannons on line, target is centered and locked, commencing fire." I pulled the trigger and laser machine gun fire consumed a nearby asteroid, destroying it in seconds. I smiled. "All auxiliary weapons are go, now then, let's commence some more advanced hostilities, shall we?" "I'll follow your lead, sir." She replied smiling. I shut off the auto-pilot and took the helm, ducking and weaving in and out of the asteroid belt testing the maneuverability. "Um, James." Amy said after a few hours of shooting and maneuvering. "Ready to go home already?" I asked. "No, James, but we have company," Amy said. I glanced at the LADAR screen sure enough we were being surrounded by Earth units. "Admiral Jamison Geo, you're under arrest for an unwarranted assault on an Earth cruiser," the hail came in. "What?" I replied. "I didn't attack anyone, I came out here to test a proto-type." I flipped the hail frequency over to the HQ channel. "Daniel, do you read me?" "Loud and clear James, what's your situation?" "I'm surrounded by Earth fighters. Request backup immediately." "Dispatching alpha flight..." "No, not fighters, we don't want to start a war here," I said. "Then what kind of back up do you need?" "I need you to send alpha flight, but have them borrow some police cruisers to escort me back to the kingdom. Send a hail to the Earth Cruisers as soon as we break contact, tell them that you are Vice Admiral Daniel Wolfe of the MMC, and that you're sending Military Police to apprehend me and that they are to detain me here, until they arrive." "What charge, sir?" "War Crime Alpha Zulu Niner." I replied. "Ouch! That's a tough charge, sir, are you sure?" "It's the only one that outranks what they're trying to nab me for." I said. I heard a scuffle in the background and Daniel's voice yelling. "Darien, what the..." "James, is that you?" "Yes, Darien, it's me, get your men off of me before they're all destroyed." "Is it true?" "What?" "Did you shoot my father?" "No, Darien, I didn't. I passed him, we had words and I left to finish my testing," I said. "This is only the second time I've heard about his death." "What?" "The first was on that wall." "The wall of prophecy?" "Get rid of the guard dogs and I'll explain it to you when I get back." "You'd better, James, and you'd better explain it fast," he said. "My men are escorting you back." I smiled. "Attention all MMC soldiers within earshot, if an Earth vehicle or personnel steps foot on that surface, with the single exception of Darien, shoot them, and shoot to kill." "So it's war, James?" "Only if you make it that way, Darien. You know I'm not gonna run away from you. Get your men off of my ass before I kill them." "Not happening, Geo." he replied. "If you're truly innocent, then you'll appear so before the counsel," he said. "So be it, Darien, but now, the blood of these men is on your hands, not mine," I said. I ripped out the radio and turned to Amy. "Buckle up, dear, we're in for some turbulence." I yanked back on the flight stick and launched through the Earth ships heading for the moon. I saw three or four legions of blue dots approaching me and soon recognized them as a couple of flights from the fleet. The barrage of lasers that they fired, easily wiped out the Earth forces and they then escorted me home. Darien was waiting in the hangar. He drew his sword as he walked over and pinned me to the wall. "Darien, you're gonna get yourself killed," I said. His jaw tightened. "Just like you killed my father?" "I didn't kill Felinine, and you know why?" "No James, please tell us all." Serenity, Serena, the counsel, and a few Earth and Moon Marine Corps officers were all facing us. "Because..." I said lowering my tone. "He's my father too," I said. I slapped his blade away and turned punching the side of the ship. "DAMN YOU MOTHER!" I shouted. "Your father went through the MDT academy with mine years ago, they became best friends and were virtually inseparable, they shared everything together. One night, while my dad was out on a RECON, exploring and charting what we now call Crystalis, Vincent Felinine came to my house and conducted an affair with my mother," I sighed. "I am a result of that affair. He's my father too, get that god damn sword away from me before I rip your mother fucking heart out you god damn back stabber." I started towards him. "I thought I could trust you, Darien. We were starting to become good friends I thought, but now I understand perfectly that once an Earthling, always an Earthling, get out of my face!" "Arrest him!" he pointed. "You're a liar, James," he said, his jaw still tight. Tears spewed from his eyes. The Earth Marines moved in. I smiled. "You all have exactly three seconds from the time I finish this sentence to back the fuck off...three, two, one. Good bye." I extended my arms and roared. "AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" Flames projected in a circle and consumed them. I pointed at Darien. "As for you, you sorry, pathetic, piece of Earth scum. I only have three words for you... Geo Thermal..." "James, stop!" A voice that sounded vaguely familiar to me shouted. I turned to see my mother behind us. "Mom, what are you doing here?" "I heard about your father's death." "JAMES IS NOT HIS SON!" Darien yelled. "I AM!" "James is his son, he just never knew it," she replied. "Darien, he's your half brother." "Like hell he is, the murderous son of a bitch!" He rushed at me and I sent my backhand flying into action knocking his sword away than swung it forward and slapped Darien across the head. He staggered backwards. "You'll pay for that one war dog," he said. His arm flashed and an iron stem rose found it's mark in my stomach, the poison making it's way into my bloodstream. I removed it and grabbed Darien by his head. "If I die, Darien, I'll snap your fucking head off right here in front of Serena, and take you with me, do you fucking understand me you son of a bitch?" I turned him around to look at her. "She will watch you die, Darien." He shakily drew a syringe from his pocket and injected me with it. I released him and shoved him forward, Daniel and a few others caught him. "Put him in a civilian freighter and get him off this rock. Darien, don't you dare come back here again, or I will kill you," I said. "I didn't love him the way you did, but I am his flesh and blood, and I will not be called a murderer by anyone." He stared at me silently as the Marines took him to his ship. Serena buried her head in her mother's arms. "James, that was bit harsh, don't you think?" "No, Serenity, I don't. There's Negaverse influence at work here, I can smell it." I said. Amy came up behind me and embraced me shortly, then went to comfort Serena. "Princess, I'm sorry for your loss, but someday you'll thank me," I said. "For what? Ripping my heart out?" "No, for saving your life. Did you not know who his mother is?" "James, that's enough," Serenity said. "Is it, Serenity? Is it really enough?" "Yes, James, it is." "Then why are you still allowing them passage here? Why are we defending a group of planets that are about to gather their forces and wage war with us, knowing that we mean them no harm, and do you want to know why, Serenity? So they can have a one thousand year life span, like you," I said. "I'm going to my chambers, Amy, have HQ call me when they get back." "Yes sir," she replied. "Oh and James, you forgot something," she said. I turned just in time to catch the engagement ring, the look on her face said it all. I forced a smile and turned to grandfather. "You see, old man, I can change fate," I said I turned my head quickly to hide the tear, but not fast enough. I ran up to my room and buried my face in the pillows crying. I cried myself to sleep that night, it was the first time that I had ever felt completely alone.  
  
* * * * *  
  
I woke up the next day bright and early and went to the HQ. The men went silent when I walked in. "What? Does everyone think I did it?" "No, James, but everyone was just wondering how you were gonna take losing Amy," Daniel said. I sighed. "Not easy, but it doesn't change how things work in here," I said shrugging. "So let's go, what's goin on in my world today? Someone talk to me." "Well, um, James, we have your mission to Crystalis taking off in an hour, we delayed them when Earth showed up." "Good, excellent move, good initiative. What else." "The Lycanthrope assembly line has begun, but they wanted to know if you wanted the Geo-Moon Blaster included in all the models." "No, thank you for reminding me, the circuitry for that weapon is flawed, call them, tell them to scrap any they built with it in," I said. "Right." "Um, James, on the current events side of the house, something did happen last night after you went to your chambers and you're not gonna like it, but Serenity gave the call." "What now?" "Darien's back." "WHAT?!?!? You've got to be shitting me! Daniel, come with me, the rest of you, keep working," I said. We walked at a hurried pace up to the throne room. I walked in with Daniel right behind me, side arm ready to pull. Sure enough the sailor scouts were assembled with the princess and Darien all facing the door. I stared at him with cold eyes. Serenity stood up and pointed at me. "James, you had better behave yourself, the counsel was ready to dissolve your commission yesterday," she said. "Darien, what are you doing here?" I asked, ignoring her statement. "Your ships assaulted me yesterday without cause, that in itself is a declaration of war buddy," I drew my pistol and took aim," And if you don't give me an answer in five seconds, regardless of consequence, you're gonna be the first casualty." He stepped back. The scouts jumped in front of him. I laughed and lowered my gun. "Oh, so we're gonna try this one again?" "I'm here to make a proposal to the queen, but you might want to be in on this," he said. "The proposal is, remove James from leadership or the allied forces will attack." "That's not a proposal, you moron, that's an ultimatum, and in the law it clearly states that this kingdom will not answer to ultimatums," I said. "James, you're out of line, would you really put this entire kingdom at risk over your petty grudges?" He asked me. "Absolutely not, you could bring every last ship from every last planet in this whole fucking system Darien, and my cruiser alone would obliterate them all, I won't even pilot it," I said. "I have forged this Marine Corps into the most elite fighting force in the universe, and it's still growing and improving as we speak, if it's war you want then it's war you will get, but know this, I've said it before and I'll say it until I take my last breath...I will not be defeated." "THAT'S ENOUGH!" my grandfather yelled. "Darien, James is your half brother, and I am willing and able to prove it. James, grow the hell up, take your differences else where." "What proof do you have old man?" "This," he handed Darien a letter addressed to me. "Felinine knows you're his son, James, he was ashamed of his actions and disappeared from your life so that Johnathon might raise you up to be something, and you made yourself something, don't throw it all away because of your petty little fight with destiny." "James, you could learn something from all of this," Amy said. "Destiny or not, I love you, but I will not live my life with a man afraid to live with himself. After you found that wall, you were not the same man I fell for. As for the rank issue, all personal feelings aside, you should be demoted. You're carelessness is going to get us all killed." "So that's it then isn't it. It looks like I'm alone on this one..." I removed the ranks from my collar and tossed them to Serenity's feet. "Do what you want to me, but mark my words, Serenity, they will attack regardless of what deal you make with them today. But I want nothing to do with it. I will not stand here idly by and watch everything I've built be destroyed just because you people think I have no god damn compassion. When you want to start defending your people from the offspring of Negaverse trash, Serenity, that's when I'll start taking lessons in compassion from you. Daniel this is my last order to any Marine, should Earth forces start to gather anywhere near this rock obliterate them, and kill anyone here who attempts to interfere, that includes Serenity or Serena, is that understood?" "Yes, sir." He saluted. "Good, now go, Admiral, you have a marine corps to lead." "I won't let you down, James." "I know." I patted him on the back. Serenity handed him my ranks and he left. I drew my sword and removed the patches from my shirt. "Consider this my letter of resignation." Tears began welling up in my eyes. "And may God forgive you for what you're doing here today, because your people, never will." I turned and walked out, boarding my cruiser and leaving. "Jebidiah, is what he says true?" "Sadly enough, your majesty, yes every last word," he said. "And if he doesn't return to fight, then we've already lost." "What trash are you talking, old man, my men will not attack unless I give the command for them to do so." Darien snarled. "And since James is gone now..." "What have we done?" Amy whispered silently. "Oh, he'll be back," Jebidiah smiled, "he forgot something." "What?" Amy asked. Jebidiah pointed to her finger. The engagement ring was back on it. "How...!?!?!?" she asked. He whistled. "James isn't the only one with powers, little lady." "Does he still love me?" she asked him. He nodded. "Oh yes, with all of his heart, however he feels betrayed by everyone, he feels as though he is truly alone in his life long quest to change his future. What he doesn't yet understand is that by changing one thing for the better, he could change something else for the worse." Amy nodded understandingly. "So it could be necessary to the survival of this kingdom that I die." "More importantly it must be in his arms, because when the flames of your love dies, they will give birth to a raging fire that will ignite his very soul and lead him to go even further with his power than he can dream of," he said. "But how can I do that if he doesn't come back." "Simple..." I replied opening the door. "I never left." I brushed the tears out of my eyes as I stared at Grandfather. "Just tell me that this wasn't all a setup to try and teach me a lesson in humility, and nobody will get hurt," I said. "Oh no, Darien had no part in it, his dad is fine, a lower culture on Earth has already found his escape pod and is nursing him back to health, within two months he'll be better than ever." I nodded. "So, how did that one occur?" I said. "Simple, Beryl had to get him under her control didn't she? What better way to do it than to make everyone else think he's dead? And while she's at it, she can pin it on you, and kill two birds with one stone." I nodded again tightening my jaw. "Thank you, that's all I needed to know." I turned and walked out, closing the door very gently behind me. I then turned to the wall. "I'LL KILL THAT BITCH!" And slammed my fist through two feet of solid brick before passing out in a rage.  
  
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I woke up in my room again, tucked into my bed. I heard the sounds of a woman crying. when I turned and looked, I saw Amy sitting in the corner with her head buried in her hands, mumbling. "Please don't die, James, I'm sorry... just please wake up." She said, sobbing and shaking her head. I smiled. "Um...won't that make your mascara run?" I asked. She looked up at me with two black lines going down her face. "I'll take that as a yes," I said. She stood up and walked over to me. "You're okay?" She asked. I nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine, why?" "Well it's just that, I got so mad when you exploded on Darien, and then you smiled when I gave you back your ring, and then you quit the Marine Corps, sentencing us all to death if the allies attack, and then you left, and came back and passed out, and I thought you were dead and I'd never have a chance to apologize." she blurted out. "Amy, there's no apology necessary. I've always stood up for my beliefs without end, regardless of whether I was wrong or right, I respect a woman who does the same." She held out her hand, in it were my ranks and patches. I smiled and took them from her. "So you're not mad at me?" "I was at first, but after I heard everything else that went on after I left, I came to my senses about a lot of things." I said. "More importantly, Amy, you have to learn that there will be times when we get angry with each other, but I will never hurt you, and I will never leave you," I said looking straight into her eyes. She smiled and wrapped me in a very warm embrace. "Thank you, James, I love you." "Love you too, babe," I said. "Now then, how long was I out?" "Three days or so," she said. "I lost count sitting over there." I nodded. "Well then, let's go finalize preparations..." I was cut off by the warning siren. I quickly got dressed and ran down to HQ with Amy. "Welcome back, sir," Daniel replied. "Thank you, what's going on?" "The allied forces are gathering all of their ships on Mars for an assault." Serenity and the others walked in. "What's our status?" I asked. "All battalions are on standby, sir." "Good, keep them there until the allies move within the hundred mile radius, arm all static defenses, and get the Warhammers loaded and prepped." "Already happening, 10 percent of the static defenses are down though, the maintenance team hasn't gotten to them yet," he said. "Are they localized?" "Sadly, yes." "Okay then here's what we're going to do, call in all air patrols and get them on standby with the rest of the fleet, and focus all ground patrols on that area, we're not giving them an open shot." Darien walked in. "What's going on? I cancelled my attack order." I turned to him. "Darien, you're a fool if you honestly believe that you've ever been running anything but your mouth," I said. "Beryl is in charge of that army."' "What?!?!?" he shouted. "Why waste man power when she can steal all of yours, probably her purpose in making our father look dead, she could possess him and use him to control them. However, what she doesn't know, is that I was ready for this." I turned to Daniel and smiled. "Sir?" "It's that time again," I said smiling. "Roger that!" he smiled. "Activate Mars defense net, code Wolfe." "Code accepted, awaiting Admiral's approval." I stepped up. "Yes, um, this is Admiral Jamison Andrew Geo, I'll have an order of barbecued Beryl, with a side order of French Fried Felinine, oh yeah, and I want it a la flambé." I said "Code Accepted." the computer replied. The HQ unit broke out into cheers. "Malfunction, static defenses at 50 percent efficiency." I glared at the screen as only half the weapons were firing, the allies lost twenty carriers and three hundred fighters before the Mars defenses were completely shut down, I was infuriated, it should have been five times that number. I twisted my head, popping my neck, and exhaled a deep breath. "Well then, that just goes to show all of you, always have a plan, and never rely on it, plan Beta, arm the artillery," I said. "Ion cannons on line, sir," Daniel smiled. "100 percent efficiency." "Sir, they're on the move, numbers are at four hundred carriers, ten flagships, and five million fighters." He slowed down as he finished the statement. I tightened my jaw. "What's their ETA?" "Twenty four hours at their current acceleration, sir." "Excellent, Amy, I need a co-pilot, care to join me?" "Sure," she said. "Where are you going war dog?" "To get my back-up," I said. "I've got ten hours to find it." Grandfather looked at me. "You know how long of a shot that is?" "Yes, but I also know that's the one thing that she hasn't anticipated," I said. "When my energy signature leaves the planet, it'll confuse her. She'll probably even slow the advance." He nodded. "Good strategy, but how will you get there in time to find it?" "With the Lycanthrope proto-type. It's capable of warp twelve. All I have to do is plot a course that won't be intercepted by any planets, stars, or flying objects and I'll be there," I said smiling. "Trust me." I finished before walking out of the room. "Oh and Serenity, stay in that room, same for you two also." I said to Serena and Darien. "that room's armored beyond all belief there's no safer place for you to be." We ran the rest of the way and jumped in, shooting into space. "James is it really that easy?" "Yup, but I prefer to manually pilot the craft," I said, launching us out of the hangar area. We shot to the sky at a continuingly accelerating rate of speed. I noticed four or five red blips following me. "We've got company. Multiple missile lock on activated, locked on to one, two, three, four, and five. Rockets away." I launched five missiles, four of them hit their targets. "Eighty percent accuracy aint bad," I said. I turned around and headed straight at them. I grabbed the flight stick with both hands and pulled the trigger, three laser blasts later we shot through what was left of the Earth cruiser. I turned and saw the Ion cannon firing. "We've gotta hurry." I said quietly. We shot off again. "How far away is it?" "About five light years," I replied. "How long will it take to get there?" "Well, we're traveling at twelve times the speed of light, so a rough estimate would be about an hour," I said. "Wow, traveling five light years in an hour?" she said, "That's amazing." I smiled. "Glad you think so." We talked a little more as the time passed, the subjects changing from the war to us. "So, James, what does the wall say about our future?" "We'll be married, then on our wedding night, Beryl launches an all out assault on the kingdom, leveling it to the ground, and killing Serenity, she sends the six of you to future Earth I'll return there to get you after I supervise the reconstruction of the imperial capital city on Crystalis. But, before you can leave, you've got a shit load of Negaverse monsters to kill off, Serena will end up killing Beryl for a second time, as well as a bunch of other beasts," I said. "Then after that's all said and done, Darien and Serena stay behind to rule the Earth as the Neo-King and Queen, but that's another story. As for us, after they begin to establish their rule, They no longer need guardians, so you and the others return to the Moon Kingdom with me, eventually, Darien and Serena grow bored and come back as well, to rule as they should. You and I get remarried, and have two kids, one boy and one girl." "What's their names?" "Alexander and Chelsea," I replied. Alexander follows in my footsteps, as does Chelsea. Unfortunately, they won't get a chance to make it as far as I have though." "Can I ask how we die?" "You can, but you really don't want to know." "Tell me," she said. "Okay...in the far off future, after moving to Crystalis, we learn that there's another culture in a nearby system, they're undead in nature and move to assault us in search of food. Their leader doesn't last very long against me, and his son attempts to avenge him, does a good job too. He starts with abducting Chelsea in the middle of the night. Then he tells me to bring all of you with me to meet him or else he'll kill her. When we get there, he has me shackled to a wall with impereite chains and shackles, not even my powers can break them. He then proceeds to rape you in front of me, followed by Chelsea, and then he castrates Alexander with his own rusty dagger. After that has been done, he loads a pistol and shoots each of you directly between the eyes," I stammered, my tone low. She nodded. "Well, you have to give the guy this much, he's got imagination," she said. "Has anyone ever told you, that you can be absolutely morbid sometimes?" I asked her, smiling. She shrugged. "Life's a joke, James, you have to learn to laugh." "I'll learn that one, right after I finish learning how to save my family," I said. She laughed quietly. "It's no doubt that Alex will go out fighting. It'll be a wonder that the guy gets a clean shot between his eyes," Amy said, "with a father like you." "He doesn't gain my abilities, neither does Chelsea, apparently my powers are a fluke." I lit a cigarette and kicked on the smoke eater. "However, I do have one other gift that I haven't seen yet, but will prove to be quite irritating in the years and decades to come." "What's that?" "Until Onyx is destroyed, I can't die," I said. "You're immortal?" "Temporarily, but yes. You see according to the wall my body is possessed with some sort of alien being, known as a Transient. Onyx is one also, and until he dies in the mortal realm my Transient will not allow me to die." "You're a Transient?!?!? Which one?" "I believe he was called Will Spirit," I replied. "Ah, the Will to survive and the Spirit of the fight. I suppose that makes sense." "How do you know of the Transients?" "I do a lot of book research in my spare time," she shrugged. "The Transients are mythological creatures, supposedly they were the embodiments of angels, one step below God, and one step above mankind. The books say that they are the creators of sentient life in all it's forms. Any form of intelligence that exists, does so because they made it." "That's a little hypocritical." "Not when you consider the source. This book was written back in the golden days of the Moon Kingdom, by a prophet known only as Cat-o-nine tails," she said. "The names of the Shao Lin prophets were never revealed to the public, so I couldn't pin point the source. However, I strongly suspect that it was Felinine Sr." She said. I nodded slowly. "It makes sense. His grandson was going to embody one in the future, it would be logical for him to produce a book of such a genre." I shrugged, "So what happened to them, why is one of them inside me?" "Well Onyx is a Transient also, as you know. And let's just say that Onyx and the leader of the Transients didn't get along at all," she said. "Why not?" "Well, The Lord of the Transients was given the orders from God to create intelligence to worship God, Onyx believed that since they were the one's doing the work, that they should be revered more so." "And the all seeing God didn't pick up on this?" "According to the text, he's not as all seeing as we think of him, at least he wasn't at the time, he communicated telepathically with his Transients, they kept him informed." "Ah ha." "Well anyways, it came to blows between Onyx and The Lord of the Transients, and Onyx was excommunicated." "In other words, Onyx, is the devil." "Exactly." "Gotcha, continue." "Onyx fell, and his followers in the Transient army went with him, he used his powers of creation and summoned a massive horde of demons and evil creatures to attack the Transient Lord." I smiled. "And he created his own army?" "Nope, didn't need to, he merged with his six faithful captains and together they crushed the army and challenged Onyx to a duel. In the final blow of the duel, both the Transient Lord and Onyx were killed. Onyx's spirit was sent into deep space to await a body evil enough to be able contain him. The Transient Lord and his six counterparts were scattered across the universe into different bodies, having no personal control over who they end up in next, but each person they possess is granted awesome power, and the wisdom to use it properly." She took a breath and sighed. "Your powers are no fluke, James, God has a special purpose for you." I smiled. "Well that lightens the blow a little," I replied. "Although I find it hard to believe that God would create a Transient with as dirty a mouth as I have." "You misunderstood, James, the Transients don't control your actions directly, they give you the powers and the knowledge and then they alter the parameters around you. That's how fate happens." I nodded. "So you're saying that seven people at any given time are completely controlling fate?" "Exactly." "So all I have to do to alter fate, is find a different path to take through the same door?" "Theoretically, yes," she said, "however, no one thus far has been able to do it." "Interesting," I said. "Well, as a wise man once told me, there's a first time for everything," I said. I pointed ahead, "There she is." Amy looked ahead and there was Crystalis in all it's beauty. The planet seemed to be divided in half by a wood line, half the planet was prairie and flat lands, the other half was mountainous and covered with lush forests and wilderness. I went into orbit and turned on the frequency scanners. "Wow, James, it's beautiful," she said. I smiled at her. "I'm glad you like it, Amy, it's the site of your future kingdom." "Mine?" "Yup, I'll explain more later," I said. "Okay, scanning all frequencies, I just set up a colony down here, where are they?" "Are there hostilities here?" "No, there shouldn't be, none were detected on the scouters. Hang on, let me try a hail." "Crystalis Moon Colony, this is Geo-Ranger one requesting location and landing permission, over." I waited. "Transmit access code, Geo-Ranger one." "Transmitting now on frequency Beta, over." "Um, negative, Geo-Ranger one, frequency Zeta is the only remaining secure frequency, over," the voice responded. "Okay then, Zeta it is," I said. I sent the access code. "Transmission accepted, Geo-Ranger one, over." "Roger that, I have frequency lock on, give me just a minute to go stealth, over." "Affirmative, Geo-Ranger one, welcome to Crystalis," the voice replied. "Thanks." I took the craft inside the atmosphere and cloaked it. I then looked ahead to our landing locale. "That's funny, the lock on said that the colony was right here, but I don't see anything," I said. "Activating holographic transparency." I flipped a switch and a large hole appeared in the ground. "I thought so." I said slowing down and entering the hole. Once I had landed I deactivated the cloak and everyone jumped back and held their rifles out at the ship. I popped the hatch and stood up. "Is that any way to greet your Commander-in-chief?" I asked. They immediately stood at attention and saluted. "Sorry, sir, we've had some problems here since we arrived," a sergeant replied. "Really? At ease men, carry on," I said. "What kind of problems?" "Well, sir, there is a hostile force on this planet, but no one can seem to identify it, we've been unable to begin the mining op because of it." "What?" "It's guarding the monolith, sir." "Really?" I said. "Where's the sensor specialist?" "Right here, sir." A buck private ran up and stood at attention. "At ease, private." I said. "What kind of energy signal are we getting from the monolith?" "Well, sir..." "Okay private, when I say at ease, it means talk to me like you would a buddy, okay?" "Gotcha, sir." "Now, continue." "Sir, it's fucking huge. I've never seen anything like it before, it's off the damn charts." "I thought so, what spectrum?" "Spectrum analysis says that their scanners have to be malfunctioning, sir, they said it's all blue." I smiled and patted him on the shoulder. "Consider yourself promoted, Corporal," I said. I turned around and bent at the knees extending my arm and then pulling my elbow back into my side. "Oh yeah! Now I know where it is, this trip's gonna be even shorter than I had hoped," I said. "Sergeant assemble four men, to include that new corporal. You're gonna come with me and watch me kick some ass." He smiled and saluted. "Yes, sir!" he said. He then turned, "Randolph, Schmitt, Davis, Stone, grab your gear and let's rock, we're the Admiral's escort." "Says who?" A harsh voice came down the stairs, the commander stopped at the bottom and smiled, saluting me. "Oh, sir, it's you. Sorry about the delay, I just got word of your arrival." "Sorry, Commander, no time for idle chat, I'm going to go get something that belongs to me, I'm borrowing these five men, I'll bring them back shortly." "Absolutely, sir, although Randolph is a pretty shaky choice, he's been demoted... Randolph, where'd you get those stripes?" he asked. "I just promoted him, Commander, and from this point on any legal action concerning Corporal Randolph is to go through me, understood?" "Yes, sir," he replied. "The kid is new, and he knows his shit, in my book that makes him worthy of those stripes, personal actions take no effect on military structure, got it?" "Absolutely, sir, take care," he saluted. "Bye, Commander." I returned the salute. "Let's go, my fellow Marines, let's rock and ride!" I jumped into the cockpit and fired up the engines. They barely got the hatch closed before I took off with lightening speed. As I approached the monolith, I saw a funky looking statue standing on the top. I landed on the side of the monolith's base and began scaling the wall. "James, where are you going?" "I have a date with fate," I replied, as I moved faster up the wall than anybody had ever gone before. As I neared the peak, I began feeling my warrior's blood becoming agitated. An adrenaline rush kicked in and I pushed myself up the side even faster. Finally I reached the top and got a good look at the statue. The statue was me in my dragon form, only three feet taller and much more heavily built. In one hand he had a sword similar to my father's, only the crystals in the hilt were red and blue as opposed to silver and gold. He also donned a suit of armor the likes of which could have only been one thing. "The Impala," I whispered softly, as I stepped closer. The stone of the statue finally chipped off and the statue came to life swinging at me. I quickly back flipped, narrowly avoiding the would be fatal blow. "You're not ready for Beryl, yet," the creature hissed at me. "And I suppose when I defeat you, I will be?" "If you defeat me, that is, yes," it replied. "Oh there's no if's, and's, or but's about it, my friend, you're going down, but we'll have to make it quick, I have to be home for a dinner engagement," I said, glancing at my watch and drawing my sword. I summoned my power to it's maximum and transformed until I was identical to him, except smaller in size. The battle was on, both of us leapt at each other, scratching, biting, slashing, kicking, punching, and just generally beating the hell out of each other. After a few minutes of neither of us gaining the upper hand we both leapt backwards back into our stances, breathing heavily. "I must confess, James, you're the best thus far," the creature said. "Why thank you, same to you," I replied, "however, I've had enough of this child's play." I leapt into the air straight up and joined all four hands off to my right and behind my back in two sets. My eyes were still locked into his. "GEEEEEEEOOOOOO CRYSTALIIIIIIIIIIIISS BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAST!" I shouted thrusting all four hands forward as individuals, four enormous beams fired off towards the creature and spiraled into one beam of unfathomable energy. He quickly leapt up to avoid the blast as it struck the monolith and exploded. I was ready for this and threw my sword expertly, nailing him right in the throat. He flipped out of control of his own momentum and crashed to the ground beside the base of the monolith. I landed beside him and resumed my human form. He handed me his sword and choked out his blessings with a smile as the life finally faded from his slitted pupils. The armor disappeared from his body and appeared on mine. I withdrew my sword from his throat and sheathed both swords on the back of my new armor. Amy looked at me. "So we're ready now? We can defeat Beryl?" I tested a few punches and kicks. "If she tries to assault by foot, absolutely, however, if she stays in the air, it's still a toss up," I smiled, "but, our odds are improving." I summoned my power and transformed again, this time, a set of wings appeared on my back, my tail grew spikes, I was much taller and much more heavily built, and my head was surrounded by a row of spikes, forming a crown of sorts. "I think I can take her," I said, flexing. The others applauded as I resumed my human form again. "So you can control it now?" "Yup, as long as the five Impereite artifacts are together, I can control it, and take it even higher than before," I smiled, "however, we still have a war to win, let's go. You five are coming with us also, welcome to HQ flight," I smiled, they saluted. "Oh, knock it the hell off, in HQ flight, things are pretty lax. Do not call me sir, or Admiral, my name is James." I said. "Never salute me, unless told otherwise by another superior in the office, I don't really like formalities, however, they keep the rest of the Marine Corps in check.. Your commanding officer, is me, when I'm not there, flight commander Daniel Wolfe is in charge, keep those basic facts in mind, and you'll fit in just fine," I said. "Now, load up, I'll arrange to have all your belongings sent back home at a later point in time, until then, if there's something you need, let me know, and I'll take care of it for you. Now then, let's go home."  
  
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We loaded into the ship and took off, I sent the orders to the Flight Commander, he wasn't happy, but what choice did he have. We arrived home thirty minutes later. Upon reporting into HQ, they informed me of the Alliance Armada's position. "Sir, they're within six hour's travel, at this rate they'll be here by nightfall." "Good, get ten Warhammers into orbit, all docking bays full of fighters, and cloaked. When the enemy arrives they are to pick a big ship to tail, no engaging until I say so." I smiled, "we'll give those mother fuckers a real hospitable Moon Kingdom welcome." The rest of the preparations went incredibly well, all the static defenses on the surface were repaired, just as the Ion cannon started firing. The Warhammers picked their tails and stuck to them, cloaked and invisible to sensors. The battle was on, and the alliance forces wasted no time in deploying their entire fleet of fighters. The Marine Corps fighters met them and lit up the sky with blasts as they exchanged blows. Amy found me in the hangar, strapping my helmet on. "James, you're not going up there, are you?" "Amy, this is my nation too, although I may be the senior officer, I'm still a Marine, and this is my fight too." I walked over and kissed her. "I'd offer to take you along, but the five star is on a mission, so they can't cover for you." The other's were behind her staring at me strangely, finally Darien broke the silence. "James, that's not very ethical, aren't you afraid you're making your father's mistakes?" "Absolutely not, I have excelled beyond my father in every way shape and form..." "No one is arguing with that, James, but think strategy, you're giving them all an open shot at the MMC commanding officer." "You know, I have been offered death by every last opponent I've ever faced, if only one of them could actually deliver, I'd be impressed." I replied. "No...you'd be dead." Serena replied. "James, don't make me resort to Royal Order." She said. "Amy needs you right now." "Darien had a point in his argument, before we went to Trial by fire, Serena, not so much as a distraction for her though, but for me, I love her with every beat of my heart, but it's my job to see to it that this kingdom remains safe and in tact," an explosion sounded off over our heads shaking some dust off the ceiling and walls. "It doesn't sound like that's what's happening does it?" I said looking around. "Win it from the HQ, James," Raye said. "Yeah, be an Admiral, not a buck private." Lita and Mina joined in. I stared at my feet for a moment, fiddling with my sword handle. "I swear to God if anything happens that goes out of control, I'm gonna be pissed." I said. They smiled. "So you'll stay?" "For now, let's get back up there." I replied, we took off running. I busted in the doors. "Status report." "Sir, we're doing great, we've suffered minimal losses, and scouts report that three carriers have yet to deploy their fleets." Daniel replied. I pointed. "Have all cloaked Warhammers focus on those three ships, co-ordinate with each other get two on each one, when they're locked on, un-cloak and open fire, as well as deployment of all flights and squadrons on board." I said. He sent out the hail. A few minutes later the report came back. "HQ this is Warhammer Exodus MP1, the three loaded albatross have been destroyed and fighters have been deployed. Long range sensors show no support in bound." I gave an evil grin as I replied. "Exodus MP1, this is Admiral Geo, destroy remaining carriers and flagship, then proceed to execute Alpha Omega maneuvers." "Roger that, HQ, Estimated mission completion time, one hour." "Make it Forty-five minutes, Commander, we don't have time for protocol, just do it." I said. I turned to another soldier. "Static defense net needs to be on-line right now." "It is, sir, we can't fire until our guys get out." "What happened to the targeting arrays?" "Nobody knows sir, the system is not responding except to manual control." I snarled. "Well then get the hell out of the way and let a pro show you how it's done, Daniel, send word to the other pilots, let them know that static defenses are operational and preparing to fire, they have thirty seconds to take evasive maneuvers." I said. My fingers were white from the effects of my death grip on my sword handle. "Sir evasive maneuvers completed." "Open fire." I said. The moon's static defenses came online blasting left and right. The enemy fighters were dropping like flies. Darien sneered. "They've gotten soft since I left." he smiled. "Since you left?" He turned to me for a moment. "Yes, James, I am in exile from Earth for two reasons, loving Serena is the least of which, but defending you to the counsel on Earth took the cake." I shook his hand. "Well, Darien, if it's any consolation, I appreciate it." "Pleasantries later, James, war now." he replied smiling. I turned back to the screen and my jaw tightened again. I picked up my comm link. "Jacob, the carriers are attempting atmospheric entry, open the gates of hell." I said. "James, are you sure? You'll be unguarded." "I have the Impala, I'm not worried." I replied stepping up to a platform. Daniel Jumped on the comm link. "All pilots, the gates of hell are opening, take your positions." Amy turned to Darien and Serena. "What is the gates of hell?" "Watch and see." I replied. The platform began rising to the ceiling, as two panels above my head opened. I bent down and fastened my feet to the center of the platform. Two smaller bars emerged from the base and formed a circle around me. My hands were placed into two circular holes in the handles after I fastened a belt to my waist. I looked up just in time to see a fighter head straight at me. "JAMES WATCH OUT!" Daniel yelled, too late the fighter plowed underneath me, flipping me high into the air. Three others spotted me and opened fire. I regained balance mid-flight. The impala folded out and I summoned every ounce of power I had. My body began levitating and glowing bright blue with electrical activity arcing all over. "Now I'm really pissed off!" I shouted joining my hands behind my back. "Oh god, everyone hit the deck." Darien said. The entire HQ unit laid flat on the floor. "GEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOO" I started, my voice seemed to resonate from the moon itself. The ball in my hands grew larger and larger. "All pilots, hit the hard deck now, Geo Thermal Blast comin' atcha!" The mission commander said. Instantly all the moon cruiser raised the deflector shields and ducked under radar levels. "THEEEERRRRRMAAAALLLLLLL" The blue membrane on body changed to red and the moon began rumbling from the output of energy. "BLAAAAAAAAAAAST!" I shouted shooting my arms straight forward and spinning rapidly. The energy blast spiraled outwards from my body. leveling two thirds of the Allied fleet. Just then a series of explosions went off above us in the atmosphere. I saw the last of the carriers and the flagship shot down. The moon cruisers took to the skies again, seeking the rest of the armada. My voice again sounded off from the moon's surface. "Attention all alliance pilots, your commanding ships have been destroyed, and your armada has been crippled. You have three options from this point on. Option number one, you can join our forces and live a good life with us in the MMC, option number two, you can surrender peacefully and we will escort you to the bounds of our territories, and finally option three, I can fire another blast like the one I just finished with and destroy the rest of you. The choice is yours, once you have reached your decision send your commander to meet me." I continued floating while they pulled into formation. The Moon Cruisers formed up and went into hover mode behind me. Finally the alliance fighters landed and all the cockpits opened up. They moved into formation and stood at attention. I landed in front of them and folded my arms across my chest. Three of them stepped forward. "If you can tell us why you killed Felinine, we'll join you." The lieutenant said. "I never killed anyone before this battle." I said. "Felinine is my father, the Nega-verse is gathering soldiers and commanders for it's new army, odds are your commander is there." I replied. He shook his head. "So we've been played for fools, the entire alliance died fighting for a cause that never existed?" He asked. I nodded. "Sadly enough, yes, Queen Beryl is a powerful woman, and more than likely she had a hand in this attack as well." Darien and the others joined us. The lieutenant acted quickly. "Royalty on deck!" He shouted and the entire flight stood at attention. "As you were." Darien replied. "Well, James, what's the news?" "I don't know yet, ask them." I said. "What's it gonna be boys and girls?" "I'm with you, Sir." an element commander stepped forward and went to parade rest behind me. "Beryl won't fool me again." His element joined him silently, a few more elements stepped behind me before the entire flight looked up and noticed the formation of moon cruisers. "If we join, do we get one of those?" Another man pointed. I looked at the moon cruiser formation and smiled before pulling out my remote control. "I'll do you one better." I said hitting a button, the Lycanthrope landed behind me, in front of those who had joined me. "I'll give you one of these." I said. "Once you've been nationalized by the queen, you'll be the first lycanthrope heavy duty tactical assault flight, this is a proto type, but the final product is being mass produced as we speak. They'll be finished in two weeks." I said. "What will we do until nationalization?" The lieutenant asked. "I tell you what, Serena come here." I said. She stepped forward. Darien grabbed my arm. I shrugged it off. "Relax Darien, they know damn well that they wouldn't last five seconds against me." I smiled turning back to the flight. "If you will line up single file in order of rank and one by one kiss the imperial ring upon our princesses finger, you can begin construction of your new battalion tomorrow." I said. "Anyone who even appears to pull a weapon on her will have their neck snapped before they can say my name." They saluted and lined up. Serena held out her hand and they walked by one at a time kissing the ring and uttering apologies and vows of allegiance. Serena was enjoying it, for probably the first time in her life, she was being treated as a princess. After they had finished, I signaled for the cruisers to go back to the hangar. I then turned back to them. "This is your first imperial order from me, go back to your fighter craft and set the self destruct timers for one hour, when I say go." I turned and watched my brother land behind me with uniform boxes. I grabbed the first three and turned back to the flight. "Lieutenant, come here. You are now the flight commander. Choose your officers and report back to me at HQ in two hours." I turned and stepped into the lycanthrope with everyone else. "And don't forget to set your ships on self destruct for one hour, no more, no less right before you leave." I said. "The blast will shape the foundation for your new battalion. Don't move them, they're perfectly aligned for it right now. See you in two hours." With that being said we left, having won the battle that was later dubbed the battle of Luna Prima, or the battle of the first moon. Amy and I went to our room and made a decision that night. "James, I think I know how we can beat fate." She said. "How?" "Let's get married tomorrow." she said. "Are you sure?" "James, after today I've never been more sure in my life, you saved this entire planet." She said gazing up at me. "I want to be with you forever." "Well then, let's get prepared." "Already done, Serenity has arranged for a celebratory blow out tomorrow night, the entire kingdom has been invited, and the main event will be our wedding, there's gonna be all kinds of stuff going on, dancing, food, fireworks, karaoke..." "Karaoke?" I said arching an eyebrow. "You have got to be kidding me." "What's wrong with karaoke?" "Well nothing much, unless you want anyone either than me to sing." I said smiling, "I love karaoke!" I said. "Wait a minute, you have to leave...quickly." I grabbed a pillow and hid my face with it. "James, what's wrong?" "I'm not supposed to see you until wedding time." I said, she replied in a smiling voice. "Okay, I'll stay with Serena and Darien tonight, see you tomorrow evening, my love." She said closing the door softly. When it had closed I lowered the pillow and lit a cigarette, right before executing a triple back flip. "YES!" I ran down the stairs and into the HQ quickly. "Sir, it's past duty hours, what's wrong?" "Um, nothing, are there any enemies in the system?" "No sir, and the alliance has submitted a formal apology." "Tell them we accept their apology, but if it ever happens again without cause, I'll kill them all." I replied hitting the cigarette. "Sir, what's wrong?" Daniel asked sending the message. "I'm getting married tomorrow." I replied. "No shit!" He said. "Amy pushed the deadline up huh?" "Yup, I need you to activate all static defenses within the solar system's range and get repair teams working twenty-four hours until every last one that's not responding is fixed, I want nothing to interfere, I also want the Ion cannons on three cannon shifts, long and short range sensors, maximum fire power. Five flights to be on stand by at all times, in two hour shifts, they can go to the party in their flight suits, but when on shift they must be inside the cockpit, ready to fly. I also want all of the available Warhammers in orbit, cloaked, piloted by volunteers to stay up there for one week straight. This is a prime time for the Nega- verse to attack, and a celebrity wedding only fuels the fire. I want nothing getting in this atmosphere unless I know about it, got it? OUCH!" I quickly dropped the cigarette and shook the burn off my hand as it burned through the filter and got my finger. Daniel laughed and stood up placing a hand on my shoulder. "Relax, sir, it's only the rest of your life." I looked up at his smiling face and couldn't help but chuckle at the joke." He then removed his hand and cracked his knuckles. "You expecting company?" "Beryl and Felinine are on their way, probably sensor ghosts, hell they could be here already, I don't know where they are, but I know that they're coming here, I can feel it in my bones, and both of those bastards will die by my hand, but not until I take Amy's hand, got it?" "Absolutely, sir, just leave it to me, and for god's sake calm the fuck down!" He said. " Yeah, yeah, you're right, but...um...well...you know." "Yes, sir, I know what you mean." He said laughing. "Now go get some rest, you've got a big day tomorrow." "Yeah, yeah..." I started mumbling as I walked off lighting another cigarette. That night, Darien knocked on the door carrying a suitcase. I smiled, "you get kicked out?" "Oh yeah, Serena's going ga ga over the whole wedding thing. I was told to 'get the hell out, now'!" He made quotation marks with his fingers and a funny look with his face. "So I came here to keep you company." I lit a cigarette and handed him the pack. "Yeah, I'm a little on edge." I said. "I figured you would be." He replied lighting one of his own. "But anyways, I had this idea, we could cause a little bit of a ruckus with it, if you'd like." "Sure thing, shoot." "Remember what Jebidiah said, you know, about that law on wedding guardians." He said. "You've already proven yourself to be pure in your feelings for her, so I'm not going to seriously contest it, and the counsel is willing to over look it as well, however, for the sake of symbolism, I thought I'd throw it up to you." He smiled. "Another round?" I asked. He nodded. "Sure thing, as long as you don't snap my spine again, that was painful." "Okay, let's do it." I laughed. "Now that it's just a friendly bout, it'll be fun." I said. "You didn't tell the girls did you?" "I didn't tell Serena or Amy, and I told the others not to." He said. We shook hands on it, and talked like brothers into the night.  
  
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The next morning, I donned my full class 'A' knight's uniform, just like I had to that dinner at my house all those years ago. Darien dressed in a black tuxedo complete with cape, top hat, and a white, eye mask. We made our way down to the coliseum where the wedding would be taking place. The walls were painted white with blue accents, and blue flowers and décor was all over the place. I removed my beret tucking it into the gun belt and letting my blond hair fall down the back of my neck. Anyways, as we walked around, talking, laughing, and looking at the decorations, my nerves began rising again. I felt like someone was watching me, but I regarded the thought as just my nerves telling me that I needed a cigarette. We stepped outside and smoked one down, looking around at the scenery. The Coliseum was the name of a large reception hall for royal parties, it sat beside a lake for recreational purposes, the docks by the building were constantly full of boats of all sorts. The Coliseum itself sat on the edge of an enormous field, beautifully landscaped with trees and flowers of all sorts. It had cement walkways that led from place to place, passing by multiple pavilions set up in the field in various places. The location was perfect, it looked like it was going to be a perfect day as well, no clouds in the sky, the sun was shining brightly, and the breeze was perfect. Later that evening, the guests began showing up, the walls had been folded up so that the HQ flight, and the commanders from the other flights could be in attendance as well, a video droid hovered to and fro, so that the entire nation could watch. Then the procession began. I stood at attention facing the crowd, Grandfather was behind me, in his robe ready to perform the ceremony. Serena had been chosen as the maid of honor, the other scouts lined up behind her, they were escorted by the members of the five star, except Sid, who was on sniper duty, some five hundred yards away, watching the entire ceremony through his scope. After they had gotten into place, Amy started down the aisle, escorted by Darien. I took a deep breath and stepped down to accept her hand. When he stopped, Jebidiah spoke. "Who giveth this young woman to be a bride on this day." Darien smiled from underneath his mask. "I don't give anything, sir, he must earn it." He drew his sword and stabbed it into the cement floor. "I contest this marriage." He said, still smiling. Jebidiah smiled. "It is written in law, that a guardian shall not be wed while under contract of duty, James, do you contest this law?" I smiled and slammed my sword into the floor as well. "Would you expect anything less?" I replied. "So be it, the counsel will convene..." "Nope, sorry, not today, I'm kind of on a schedule here, Darien, why don't we cut to the chase and take this outside?" I said kicking my sword into the air, catching it and pointing at him. He did the same, moving my sword aside. "I wouldn't have it any other way, war dog." Jebidiah smiled. "Okay then, Trial by Fire will commence in one hour." Serena grabbed both sides of Darien's collar and started shaking him violently. "Will you never grow up?!?!?!?" She yelled. I chuckled as Amy and I walked out the doors and stood off to the side. "James, what's this about?" She asked, with her hands on her hips. "What do you mean?" I said lighting a cigarette and removing my jacket and shirt, revealing the leather scabbard I had worn the first time we had battled. The Impala appeared over it. "Don't worry, it'll be a short fight, now that I have the Impala, he doesn't stand a snowball's chance in hell." We got to the stadium and stood ready for the fight. Grandfather said go and we charged at each other, clashing blades and kicking up dust. "So, Darien, when should we end this?" "That's your call, ungh, James, whenever you feel like throwing me around a little bit, go for it." He smiled. "Amy's really upset about this whole thing, she still thinks it's real. we'd better make it a quickie." I said. "James! Are you flirting with me?" He asked. I laughed. "Ready for a knock-out?" I asked. We leapt away from each other and sheathed our swords gaining a stance. "Bring it on, War dog." He said. In a flash I leapt catching him in the back of the neck and bouncing him into the air, followed by a jump kick backwards into the wall. He fell to the ground unconscious. I stepped over to him and used the aerosol can to wake him up without anyone noticing, I then pretended to break his spine again. He played along, crying out with agonizing pain. I then held him out to the counsel and he waved his white mask in the air, indicating the match's end. I then healed his scrapes and bruises, brushed him off and we made our way back to the coliseum. The wedding was perfect, but even though the battle had calmed my nerves considerably, I couldn't shake that feeling that I was being watched by someone who wasn't supposed to be there. Grandfather's words, seemed to fade into thin air and the feeling washed away as I gazed into Amy's eyes. my body went into auto-pilot, responding to the ceremony as rehearsed. Then it came time to kiss the bride. I wrapped my arms around her waste and kissed her harder then I ever had before. That's when I heard the voice, it was faint, but when I opened my eyes and looked behind Amy there was a faint image of a man in golden armor standing there, staring at me and smiling. I pulled away quickly and chucked my sword expertly at the image, it disappeared right before it struck. I turned to Jacob and hit the com- link switch. "This is Admiral Geo, we have been invaded, launch all fighters, activate sensor ghost scanners, find them and destroy them now!" I looked up at Jacob and drew my side arm, cocking it, with a dead serious look on my face. "She's here." He and the other's pulled rifles from under their jackets and cocked them. I turned quickly. "GET SERENITY OUT OF HERE, NOW!" Jacob and the others moved to take Serena, Serenity, and the scouts to the safe house. Only Amy remained behind. The crowd in the coliseum began scattering. Amy clung to me like plastic wrap, her eyes were wide and darting back and forth. My sword reappeared in my sheath as I moved around. "Where are you, father, I know you're here." I said. "Well then, I guess my cover has been blown." Felinine replied appearing directly in front of me. "Sir, Nega-verse armada has surfaced on the scanners." "Counter-attack." I replied. "Arm static defenses." I turned back to Felinine. Amy backed away slowly. I tossed the pistol off to the side and gained a stance. "I wasn't invited to my own son's wedding," he said smiling. "That's a little disheartening, James. Although I must commend you on your actions to save the queen, a rather remarkable turn of fate, don't you agree?" "You're not my father, I replied. My father died when he was shot down." "Oh yes, you would be referring to the late Johnathon Geo. Quite a remarkable pilot, but a little slow on the draw." he shook his head. I tightened my jaw and clenched my fists. "But where are my manners, a gift for the bride." A tentacle shot forward, and the blade detached, transforming into a rocket and firing at Amy. I reacted quickly. "Amy! NO!" I leapt to the side, the rocket hit me in the center of the chest, exploding with the force of a block of TNT. My body was launched backwards into the wall and then face down on the floor, blood trickled from the corner of my mouth and a bright red puddle slowly enlarged underneath my body. Amy was at my side in an instant, kneeling behind me. "Oh god! James!" she started crying uncontrollably. Fury filled her tear stained eyes after a few moments and she stood up transforming into her powered up state. "Felinine, you'll pay for this act of treason." She gained a stance. "In the name of the queen and the planet Mercury, you will be punished!" She flowed her arms across her chest and levitated slightly. "Oh yes, this will be good." Felinine crossed his arms and stood ready. "MERCURY BUBBLE BLAST!" She shouted. The jet of water rushed forward and slammed into his forehead with such a brutal force that he was thrown backwards outside the building. When he landed, his helmet rolled away and he rose to his feet, blood seeping from his forehead slowly. He snarled. "You will die, girly, you have just tarnished my beautiful face!" He stepped forward and she tightened her jaws, terrified that her strongest blast had done so little damage. "Now I'll send you to join your husband!" He launched a tentacle straight forward at her. Just before it hit her, my hand shot up and stopped it dead in it's tracks. I rose to my feet slowly. The impala's top half had been destroyed by the explosion, but my skin was unscathed and the puddle had disappeared. Felinine's eyes grew wide as I ripped the tentacle off his armor. "How! No one could have survived that blast!" He shouted "Marines don't die." I snarled stepping slowly towards him. "We just go to hell and regroup." He shot all of the other tentacles at me. I ripped them off one by one before charging and back handing him, he spun in the air before my foot launched him quite a ways backwards. He bounced off the ground like a rag doll and slowly climbed back up to his feet. I drew my sword and grabbed his hair pulling his head back, placing the sharpened blade to his throat. "You can't kill me, James, we're blood." "I don't believe you, Felinine, let me see for myself." I slid the sword backwards quickly, placing a deep cut along his throat. Blood poured out freely and he began choking on it. I stared coldly into his eyes as the life slowly faded from his. Finally his body went limp and I dropped him to the ground. I looked over towards the palace and saw the moon cruisers duking it out against impossible odds. The palace was lying in ruins from bombs dropped and half the city was engulfed in the flames of war as foot soldiers from both sides battled while the air show continued. I hit the comm-link. "Daniel, come in." "I hear you, James, we thought you were dead." "Is the queen okay?" "Yes, she's fine, the girls are okay too, how's Amy?" "A little shaken up, but otherwise unharmed, do we have a fix on Beryl's position?" "Negative, James, it doesn't look like she's here." "Trust me, she's here, I just killed her commanding general, if she weren't here, the soldiers would have died." "I'm right here!" A voice behind me shouted, Amy was ripped from my arms as Beryl zipped by on a foot glider of some sort. "James, help me!" she shouted. "AMY!" I shouted back. "I have locked onto the target, send the lycanthrope." I said. "Got it, James, go kick some ass." "James," Darien's voice came on the link. "She's a guardian, James, her life is essential to the survival of the queen." I tightened my jaws. "What are you talking about, Darien." I asked. "No time to explain, James, just don't let her die." "I have no intentions of it...Get Pluto on standby." I said, my voice cracking. "Are you sure?" Darien asked. "Just do it, god dammit!" I said slamming the comm-link into the ground. I jumped into the lycanthrope as it pulled up and took off, following the foot glider. It stopped in front of the HQ building. I popped the cockpit and stood up. "Greetings James." Beryl said. "It seems you've lost something, here." "James, forget about me, just kill the bitch." Amy shouted. " Beryl tightened her grip around Amy's throat, silencing her. I drew a pistol with lightening speed and took aim. "Oh that's cute, James, you would kill her to save the world?" "I would sacrifice every living being in this universe if it meant watching you bleed, Beryl." I replied, licking the blood from my lips. "Throw your gun over the side and call off your soldiers or else she dies." "I have a better plan, how about I put a bullet between your eyes and call it a day." I said. "Because that would invoke a nervous spasm as I died and Amy's neck would be snapped, killing her." She said. I lowered the pistol slightly. "Exactly what kind of leverage do you think you have here, bitch?" I said. "The love of your life, James." she replied. "I'm a fucking Marine, you stupid bitch. The life of any one person means nothing when weighed in at the cost of every other life form in the universe. So hurry up and dispose of her so I can bullet in your ass already," I said still holding my aim. Beryl's expression turned grim. "So be it." Her hand went behind Amy's back and suddenly a blast of energy fired through her stomach. She screamed in agonizing pain and fell to the ground. I tossed my gun off to the side, and joined my hands behind my back. "Impressive, here's mine. GEO THERMAL BLAST!" I shouted launching my hands forward. The blast struck home hard, launching Beryl backwards, the energy from the blast enveloped her body in flames, her soldiers all fell dead in their tracks, and the enemy fighters began spinning out of control and slamming into the ground. I quickly jumped down and tended to Amy. I healed her wound and quickly carried her inside to the HQ. Serenity was lying on the table, blood trickling from her mouth. Darien saw Amy and ran over taking her from me. I then saw the blood around her. "She's spiritually connected to the scouts." Jebidiah informed me. "When Amy was hit, so was she." I shook my head and tears formed as I knelt beside her. "Oh god, Serenity, I'm so sorry, I didn't know, I swear to god I didn't know." She smiled at me and lifted a blood soaked hand to touch my face. "It's okay, James, she's dead, and when you return to Crystalis you will rebuild the kingdom in all it's glory. Just promise me you'll follow them to Earth, and protect them at all costs." she said. I nodded, my heart was writhing in agonizing pain, and tears fell freely from my eyes as I spoke. "I swear to god, Serenity, I will not fail you again." I said. Amy awakened and rose to her feet, walking over, her hands were clapped over her mouth when she saw Serenity. Pluto appeared behind me. "The portal stands ready, James." I stood up. "Just go, I have my own way." "Okay then, good luck." I turned to face Amy, she had tears in her eyes. "James, I won't leave you, I can't." "Amy, you have to, you're not safe here, I'll return for you, I promise you that, but you must go now." She ran into my chest and buried her face there, sobbing. "I don't want to lose you, James." "You'll never lose me." I said. I lifted her chin in the cleft of my finger and kissed her softly, she tightened her grip on my shoulders. "Serena and the others need you." "I won't forget you, James." She said. "You promised." She stepped backwards slowly, never taking her eyes off of me as she stepped through the glowing portal. I turned away as the portal closed and lit a cigarette. "Okay, let's get started, first off. Collect the dead, organize a mass funeral, Serenity at the head, MMC after her, and civilians next." I said turning to grandfather. "Can you do it?" "Yes." He said. "Good. After the funeral is over, we'll commence the relocation procedures." I said. "load every carrier we have with as much salvageable equipment and personnel possible. Make sure to load construction equipment first, followed by military equipment, anything that can be salvaged, do it. We can make multiple trips if necessary, but I'd rather not. I picked up a lap top computer from Amy's old desk and opened the files. "Good, here Jacob, I'm entrusting this to you, this computer holds the schematics for all the military equipment used by the MMC, do not lose any of it." He took it and cradled it in his arms. "Got it, sir." He said. "We'll take car of this, you go find your wife." "Nope, no can do, it's my responsibility to tend to this kingdom. when New Imperia's construction is finalized, then the five of us will leave together."  
  
* * * * *  
  
"Hey guys, how's it going?" Amy asked the girls as she approached them. "Hello Luna." "Greetings, Amy, how did you sleep?" "Not too good, I had this recurring nightmare all night. About me and another man I don't really remember, he was trying to save me from someone but failed, I kept waking up right before I would have died though." "What did he look like, Amy?" Lita asked smiling. "Yeah, how studly was he?" Amy smiled. "Very, he stood about as tall as Darien, but he had long blond hair, pulled back in a pony tail, crystal blue eyes, and he was built like a professional wrestler." She smiled, but then suddenly gained a thoughtful look. "The strangest part was, though, he was wearing some sort of military uniform, with a crescent moon on it." "Did the Moon have a ring around it?" Luna asked. "Yes actually, how did you know?" "My goodness, he is stubborn isn't he, Artemus?" "I tell you what, five hundred years pass and he's still not letting her go." "Who?" "Amy, you'd never believe me." Luna replied. "But you were a married woman." "Anyone ever get the feeling that you're being watched?" Raye asked. "It's almost like someone is staring at us, I've been getting that feeling a lot these last few weeks." She smiled. "weird, isn't it?" "Not really, Raye, Amy how long have you been having that dream?" "Since about a week ago Tuesday." "Luna, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" "Absolutely, but where is he?" "Don't bother looking, you won't find him, unless he wants to be found." "Who?" Amy asked. "Your husband." Luna replied. "Who was he?" "The man in the dream, Admiral James Geo. He's here now, watching us through his sniper rifle's scope." "That's funny though I don't sense anyone that close watching me." Raye said. "He could be a mile away and still shoot a flea off the end of a cigarette." Artemus replied. Raye stopped and her jaw dropped. "Wait a minute, there is someone behind me." she said. Amy turned and looked. there were a couple of people walking by the ice cream place, and a few other people sitting and eating but none of them resembled the man in the least. There was a man reading the local newspaper sitting behind them, and another man leaning on the fence smoking a cigarette, looking around like he was waiting for a ride. "I don't see anyone, Raye, are you sure?" "He's moving, to my left. He's moving in a circle, I'd say about a football field out." She said. "Wait, he stopped, and...he's gone." "What do you mean he's gone?" "I mean, I can't sense him anymore, it's like he just dropped off the face of the earth." "Nope, he just cloaked." Artemus said. "He's on a covert mission." "What mission is that?" Serena asked. "He wants his wife back." Luna replied looking around. "Let's see if he'll at least let us know for sure that he's here, Amy, draw a small target on your cup, as small as you want to draw it and hold it in the air." She did as she was told. "Okay, James, I know you're out there, and I know you're listening to every word that's been said thus far, show them some of your skill and nail that target." No sooner than she got the word Target out of her mouth, did a muffled hiss sound and a hole appeared where the target had once been. The girls all screamed as the coke went everywhere. That's when Amy looked back over her shoulder where the shot came from. The man on the fence started smiling maliciously at her, a bus passed by and he disappeared. "I think I just saw him." She said. "No way, where?" "That man that was on the fence..." "That wasn't him, Amy, although he did look familiar." "Very, he almost resembled Johnathon, didn't he?" Artemus replied. "So why is James being so covert, if he wants Amy back?" "Because he's afraid of what might happen if he reveals his position before it's time." "When is it time?" "When the time frame for the prophecy that haunts him passes." Another hiss sounded and Raye's french fries went flying. "Okay, I think that means we've said enough." Luna said shakily. "He doesn't like that prophecy mentioned at all." "Why? What's so bad about it?" "Nobody really knows for sure, except him." Artemus replied. Amy stared straight ahead and slowly lowered her drink to the table. everyone turned to face the direction she was and there I was standing on top of a building about fifty yards back, sniper rifle in hand. I flipped my cigarette down and turned away walking off. "Was that..." "Yup, that was him." Luna said. "My god, if he's half as good looking as his silhouette..." Lita said. "Lita!" Amy said. "Yeah, Lita, Amy has first dibs, after all they were married. But you know should he see her and change his mind..." "Serena!" Luna started. "Sorry, Amy, I was just kidding." "What if you're right?" Amy replied. "What if he doesn't like me when he sees me." "Amy, he's seen you already, you must understand something about James, he's very barbarian like, in the sense that his love is as old fashioned as the cavemen in most aspects, he's also very highly protective of what he deems his territory." "And that includes me?" "You were his wife, as far as the ceremony goes, the vows were annulled by your re-birth on this planet, but James will stop at nothing to get you back." "That could be a good or a bad thing." Mina said. "True, however he has a very sophisticated sense of honor about him." "I know I do, thank you, Luna." Darien said stepping up. "Not you, stupid." Raye replied sarcastically. "Well then, it seems that he's gone." "Things are never what they seem when he is around." Artemus replied. "Let's go."  
  
* * * * * "Well, I did it." I said walking in to the mobile base. "I showed myself to them, from a distance, but hey it's a start." Jacob and the other three turned to look at me. "James you're such a putz!" Rocky said. "Just go over to her house, bend her over the bed, and bang her already." He smiled his usual goofy grin. "Dude, you're fucking sick minded." I said. "He has a point, James. You should just show yourself and talk to her, I mean Luna and Artemus must have told her about you by now." "Yeah, for the first time today." I said, "and I will show myself, eventually." "When, James? After Felinine lands? I mean seriously, just do it already." "Okay, okay, I'll go tonight, they'll be at Raye's." I said. "Yeah right, I'll believe it when I see it." Jason shot back. "I will, can't guarantee that I'll be very lucid, but I'll go." I walked back into my quarters and sat down, pulling out a dust covered binder with photos inside of it, it was the wall. My finger traced over a few lines. "Be prepared for when it seems your life is back on track, A situation will arise requiring a Geo Thermal Blast." I grabbed my gun belt. "Let's rock." My jaw tightened as I slipped on the trench coat and wide brimmed hat and opened the window jumping out. Jacob heard the window opening and ran in. After looking out the window and noticing that I was already gone he turned to the open binder. "What the... oh hell no." He ran back out of the room to alert the others. "Well then, here goes nothing." I walked up to the dojo's door and knocked. It was answered by an elderly man. "We're not open for training right now, please come back another time." "Wait, sir, I'm not here for training, I'm a master of five breeds of martial arts. actually, sir, I'm here to speak to your daughter, Raye." He looked at me again. "You seem a bit mysterious to me, stranger, why should I let you see her?" "Because, she and her friends are in a lot of trouble, it's my job to see to it that they stay out of trouble's way." I smiled motioning for myself to come in. "May I? It's a bit brisk outside." "Oh! Certainly, my good man, let me take your coat and hat." I removed both of them revealing my skin tight uniform and gun belt. "Thank you." I replied tightening my pony tail holder. He looked me up and down. "You have the build of a master, yet you carry firearms?" "You can't punch or kick an enemy in titanium armor very effectively, sir." I smiled. He nodded and grinned himself. "Agreed, to do so would be rather foolish." He smiled. "They're upstairs, I'll have Raye come down and introduce you to her friends." He turned to the stairs. "Raye, may I see you downstairs for a moment?" "Coming grandpa." She replied coming down the stairs, then she saw me. "May I help you?" She asked. I turned to face her and extended my hand. "Well hello, Raye. It's been a very long time since I've seen you." Her eyes went from my face, to my name patch, to my insignia, and back in a fraction of a second, right before her jaw hit the floor. "It's you...and you're armed." "I never travel without a weapon, Raye." "Um, right, you're a marine, why would you, are you here to see Amy?" "Actually, as it may be, I'm here to see all of you, shame though, I'd hoped to see Darien at the same time, but some situations have come up that have forced me to push the time frame forward a bit." I smiled at her, she nodded and started turning towards the stairs. "Yes follow me." She took off running and shot up the stairs in front of me, busting in the door. "Luna, Amy, you'll never guess who's here." "Who is it, Raye?" They all stood up and faced the door. "Who are we waiting for?" I asked from behind them, they screamed and turned to face me suddenly, noticing the open window, I turned and shut the window, then motioned for the door to shut and it did. "My goodness, James, will you ever learn to use the front door?" Luna asked. "Well, Luna, I did when I first came in, doesn't that count for something?" She smiled. "Well it's a start I suppose." She said. I turned to Artemus and kneeled. "Well, Artemus, how have you been? It hasn't been the same without the both of you sniffing up ammo for Darien to fire at me." I smiled, they returned the smile. "And it hasn't been the same without your muscles slamming those bullets right back down our throats." He smiled. That's when I felt Amy's eyes staring a hole in my head. I instinctively began fidgeting with the ring on my finger. "Hello, Amy." I said, without looking up. "Hello, James." She replied, after a few moments of silence. I stood up and looked at her taking a deep breath. "How have things been?" "That's a silly question, James, you've been watching us for a while now, I'd have thought that you'd know." Serena replied. I chuckled. "Yeah, you're right, I do know, I'm just nervous as hell, and trying to break the Ice." "Oh, okay." "Well then, this has turned out to be just as awkward as I had predicted." "James, come in." a voice from my belt sounded. I raised my wrist to my cheek. "What's up." "We have incoming, you might wanna take a look at this." "How many?" "Three or four carriers worth, they're touching down on the moon." "Get some probes up there, I want to know who they are, and what they're doing, if their trying to track us, destroy them with the gates of hell, they may just be passing through." I said. "What if it's him?" I smiled faintly. "Then I'll enjoy kicking his ass and mopping the floor with his face a second time." The grin on my face extended to a full smile. "And who knows, I might get creative this time." "Roger that, Jimmy, out here." "Yeah, out here." I replied, staring off into space. "Something isn't right about that." I said silently. "Oh well, it can wait until later, first and foremost comes my reason for making this little house call. As I told Raye downstairs, a situation has come up, my team doesn't even know about it yet, but they will soon enough, someone is coming to Earth, that may have been them he just told me about." "Nega-verse?" "Absolutely...however, these are like no Nega-verse creatures you've ever seen before. They're smart, they're fast, they're strong, and they use guns." I turned to Serena. "no offense, Serena, but you might consider retiring that scepter of yours. Your tiara magic might still do some good, but your magic healing powers will be absolutely useless. Lita, fire those bastards up with as much juice as you can pour out, they cover themselves in titanium armor, an excellent conductor of electricity, Amy, use your aqua powers in conjunction with Lita's electrical attack to eliminate as many of them as possible. Raye, aim for the eyes, that's the only place your fire bolts will do any good, and Mina, resort to your love chain encircle powers and trip them up where you can, if you get into trouble, use this." I tossed Amy a small button. "What is this?" "It's a combination tracking beacon and communicator. If you ever get overwhelmed, don't take it for granted that I'm watching through my scope, to be perfectly honest after the first month or so, I went back to one day a week. The rest of my time is spent training, so odds are, that I'm not watching..." "I have a better idea." Serena said. "Why don't you just start hanging out with us?" "Excuse me?" "Yeah, you know, James Bond type subterfuge." Raye chimed in. "Have any of you ever noticed that James Bond's secrecy is always uncovered within an hour of the movie?" I said. "Okay, so don't use subterfuge, Luna and Artemus told us what a great warrior you are, use that to shield the planet, if they know you're here..." "They will hasten their arrival to meet me, you don't understand, I almost killed this guy, he didn't like that, he's coming to exact his revenge, he's not going to get cold feet just knowing I'm here." I said. "Well then do it for better protection, it could take you a while to reach us if you're not watching, we could be dead by that time." I looked around nervously. "You're not taking no for an answer are you, Serena?" "Nope." She replied. "Me neither." Raye said. "I'm with them." Lita stepped up. "You're the guy who needs to be here, James." Mina said. Amy stood by herself, playing with her ring. "Amy, are you with us?" "What?" she asked, blinking. "Well that makes it unanimous." Raye rolled her eyes. "I...I...I don't know." I said. I turned away. "When your life seems to get back on track, a situation will arise requiring a Geo Thermal Blast." I said, sighing to myself. "Don't let destiny run you, don't be afraid of fate." I turned around. "Amy, it's your call." I said. "What's my call?" "Amy where have you been for the last twenty minutes?" "Um...I feel dizzy. I need to sit down." she started to fall backwards, and I moved like lightening catching her. I carried her over to a bed and laid her down, checking her pulse and breathing. I nodded. "She's hyper-ventilating." I said. I reached into my cargo pocket and pulled out a brown paper bag placing it over her mouth. "Someone hold this here." I turned to the window. "I'll be right back." I jumped out the window. A few moments later a scuffle was heard outside the window followed by a loud clanging sound, crunching glass, and a gunshot. I jumped back up into the room, bleeding from a wound on my forehead and a bullet hole in my side. Upon further examination they found my hand to be shattered also. "Oh my God, what happened?!?!?" Luna asked excitedly. "He's here, the fucker's been waiting for me." I said clenching my teeth, my body became surrounded by a blue aura and my wounds were healed. I hit the button. "James here, we are at state of war, gentlemen, the enemy has been here the whole fucking time, prepare the equipment and go to level one security." I said "Roger that, level one activated." The voice replied. Amy came to and looked up at me, nursing my arm and the tears and bloodspots on my uniform as my angry face stared out the window. "What's going on?" "We have company, James was the first one hit." Raye said. "I'm fine, but now I have no option in the matter, you girls will be getting quite accustomed to Marine supervision, there will not be one second of your day that a pair of eyes will not be watching." "Even in the shower?" "Especially then, that's a prime opportunity, as soon as you close those curtains and hide your image from us, the enemy could teleport right inside the curtain and off you right there." I said. "We're not perverts, we're body guards, and we're the best damn bodyguards you could ever ask for." the door knob started turning, and I whipped around drawing twin pistols and aiming at the face of the intruder. It was Darien. "Dammit Darien, over five hundred years passes by and you still don't know how to fucking knock, one of these days it's gonna get you shot." I said. He slowly lowered his hands as I lowered my guns. "Who's the trigger finger?" He asked. "Darien, meet James Geo, Amy's husband." Serena said, I sighed. "Serena, that was a long time ago, it was annulled by the rebirth, and I would appreciate it if you would stop introducing me like that." "Why? don't you still love her?" "My feelings for Amy are not the issue we need to be concerned with right now. At the current moment in time, I'm trying to save a small group of lives." I said. Luna looked at me sternly, as did Artemus. "All that fuss you made about it in the kingdom and that's all you have to say about it?" "For right now, yes, the issue is highly distracting, and I need to be able to focus." "James, you've changed, or is this another attempt to change your fate?" As he finished the sentence he found my pistol barrel an inch away from his nose. "I believe someone that looks a lot like myself specifically ordered that no one speak of that wretched wall again." "Oh, yeah, sorry, um, I forgot." I smiled and withdrew the pistol re- holstering it. "Now our first order of business is to emphasize togetherness." "Safety in numbers, right?" Mina asked rolling her eyes. "No, in fact it's strategically ill-advised, however, for tonight I'll be the only watchman on duty and I can't be in six places at once." "Man, I don't know who you are, but I can take care of myself." Darien said. "Really?" I asked. "turn around and look behind you." I said. He did just as a metallic fist slammed into his nose. My pistols each fired twice and the creature fell dead. "Now then, this is a CATS." I said. "That's an acronym for a Cerebrally Altered Tactical Soldier, or in layman's terms a super soldier. Darien's cockiness almost got him killed tonight, I don't want to see that mistake made again. You cannot be prepared for these soldiers, because they appear and disappear in flashes of light and puffs of smoke, fast and usually silent, just like that one was. I can kill these things all day long, and I can show each of you how to do the same thing, but you have to listen." Amy walked up. "James, can I speak with you for a moment?" "Yeah, sure thing." I said stepping over the dead creatures body, and out into the hall. "James, I have to know how you feel about me." She said. "Oh." I said nodding. "Amy, I take marriage vows seriously, till death do we part, you may have been reborn, but I wasn't." "So you do..." "I can not take this anywhere right now though, Amy, it interferes with my judgment, it's the reason you were all sent here in the first place." I said. "It's the reason that Serenity died, because I let my love for you blind my judgment." I said. "So...what does this mean?" "It means, Amy, that I cannot let myself love you right now." I said. "for Serena's sake, I cannot do it." "Her protection is my job, James." Darien said. I looked up at him. "You're obsolete Darien, a very elegant speaker and very much the prince you used to be. But you're not a soldier, and you never will be, you fight because there is no one else who can, I fight because it's what I like, I have lived, slept, ate, and drank nothing but fighting since I was five years old. I'm Twenty-Three now." I said. "no offense but you need to step back and let the professionals do our job." "None taken, James, but it doesn't do you any good to save a world you won't let yourself enjoy." He said. I tightened my features and fought back the memories. "You don't understand, Darien, you don't have the memories that I do, I failed once when I couldn't save my father's life on Mars, I failed again when my ignorance led to Serenities demise, I will not lose her to the same fate and fail yet again." I said. "If you won't let yourself love her, James, then what difference does it make?" "I'm finished with this conversation, Darien." "Why is that?" "Because you're about to have your face replaced if we continue." I said through clenched teeth, fighting back the memories as best as I could. Jacob and Jason walked up. "James, we got your back, get some rest." "I'm sleeping here tonight." I said. The lights went out and we went to sleep all around the room. Halfway through the night the nightmares returned. Images flashing through my head, Our first kiss, Felinine's appearance, and Beryl almost killing Amy. "AMY NO!" I shouted sitting up in the night, my body was drenched in cold sweat and I was breathing heavily. "What was it, Jimmy?" Jacob asked. "the nightmares again?" "Same ones, I can't shake 'em Jake, I just can't." "Maybe if you let your guard down a little..." "And risk her life? Jacob I would rather watch her live forever from a distance than spend a few short years with her before watching her die." "James, whether or not you confess your feelings, everyone knows you have them, and they're still going to use them against you at every turn, if you're with her when it happens you have a better chance at protecting her then from the view of a sniper scope." "I don't know, Jake, I don't think I could take losing her like that again." "Well if you don't try, you'll never know." "I'm not sure I want to know, I just need some time to think things through, bad part is, I can't afford to think of anything other than how to get rid of that feline bastard right now." "Leave that to us for a few days, bro, you deal with Amy first, Felinine second, the Kingdom last." "Who needs to deal with me?" Amy asked walking in the room in her nightgown and rubbing her eyes. "You're up?" "Yeah, restless night, I thought I heard you yell for me." She said. "Just a nightmare." I replied. "You have them too?" She asked. "I doubt they're the same one." I said. "In mine Beryl shot an energy blast through my stomach and then I had to leave you behind." She said. "I always wake up crying for some reason, but I don't remember any of it, just feelings." She said. I nodded. "Well, I'll leave you two alone for a while." Jacob smiled. "Take care of business, brother." He winked at me. "Amy...I...I didn't mean to come off as a hard ass earlier...in the hall." "It's okay, James..." "No...it's not okay...because I'm just looping it over and over again, the same fear, trying to accomplish the same goal, and failing every time, and I keep trying to remind myself of what you told me before you left. you told me: 'I can't live with a man who can't live with himself, accept your fate, James, the only thing your pushing back when you try to change it, is me." I stopped and shook my head. "Truth is, I'm afraid that if I take you back, I'll lose you again, and Amy, this may sound completely out of character for a Marine, but I couldn't take that again, I can't lose you again, if that's what it's going to come down to, then I'd rather just leave it alone." "It must have been hard for you...losing someone you swore to spend forever with, only hours after you swore it...it must've hurt a lot." "It did, and then you were sent here to Earth, and the only contact I was allowed to have with you up until tonight was through my scope, that was even worse." She slid her arm over my shoulder and placed the other hand on my leg. "James, even if you won't let me back into your heart, at least let me be your friend." "Amy, there is no happy medium with us, there never has been. I just need some time to clear my mind, everything's happening too fast, I need to slow it down and catch myself up with it." I said. "I may be a battle hardened warrior, but my heart is still as untouched as yours, I've only been loved by one, and I've only loved one, and that's the way it will remain, till death do we part, I just have to think things through." "James...I'll be waiting for your answer...just let me know." she said walking back to her room." I stood up and went outside to the dojo's exterior. The training path was calling my name, so I ran it continuously until the sun came up, five hours later.  
  
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I spent the next few days hanging around the dojo, training with Raye. She was quite an accomplished martial artist herself, and was amazed with my expertise in Crystalis. I could feel the eyes of the enemy crawling all over my body, but they never made an appearance. I spent the nights in the room that her grandfather had allowed me to rent from him. I set it up with my father's meditation equipment and my combat weapons, along with an old fashioned military cot in one corner. Mostly I meditated at night, rather than sleep. I tried to siphon visions of what course of action to take from the ancient ones who wrote the wall's prophecy, to no avail, they didn't know. I did see visions of my wedding day all over again, the nightmares began attacking me, breaching the realm of dreams and invading the spiritual realm of meditation. finally one day the group approached me in my room while strength training. I was in a hand stand against the wall doing vertical pushups when the screen slid open and they walked in. I continued my work out as they watched. "May I...ungh...help you?" "Um...yeah...I...we came to ask you something." Serena stammered. "Ungh! Two hundred, good workout." I flipped upright and fired a few low jabs into thin air as fast as I could followed by a kick to the side. "Well then, ask away." "When are you going to answer Amy?" "What?" "Are you two gonna hook up or not?" Mina asked. "I...I...I don't know." I said turning away and attacking my practice bag with a few side kicks and punches. "James, she's starting to remember things that she couldn't before, and every new memory brings her more pain with it." I jumped and swung my leg up and then down on top of the bag snapping the top chain and shattering the bag on the floor. "She'll never know the pain I felt." I replied. " She lost her memories, I lost everything I had come to know and love from the day I was fucking born." "What does that have to do with anything?" Raye asked. "There are a lot of good reasons why I should take her back, but that is not one of them." "Then what are some good reasons?" Lita asked. "Well for starters, she's amazingly beautiful, she's intelligent, she can be just as hard headed as I can be, and the fact that I can only think of one consequence to pay because of it." "What consequence is that?" Raye asked. "The fact that she'll die a very untimely and tragic death." They stopped. "You're kidding right?" "I wish I were, but sadly enough, I have it in writing." "How soon." "Not sure about that one, my guess is ten to fifteen years." "James, listen to yourself, you can prepare for that by the time it happens." "No I can't...I thought I could prepare for the invasion, I had two years warning, in the end, I still failed, I...UNGH!" I was cut short by Raye's hand slapping me across the face, the blow spun me around in a complete circle before I knelt to get rid of the stars spinning around my eyes. "Raye, you have exactly five seconds to explain to me why you just did that." "You call yourself a martial artist? You'd better start acting like one and pull yourself together, James Geo, if you're in love, just admit it and take care of business, if you have something to prepare for, you know how to prepare, I've seen you do it." I stood up and tightened my jaw, the other three girls stepped backwards slowly as I turned to face Raye. "Anyone less then a guardian would be missing their head right now." I said, my face was bright red with fury and the vein in my forehead was pulsating. "James, stop torturing Amy, she needs you." "As I do her..." I said instinctively. The four girls smiled at me. "So you do love her." "With every beat of my shattered heart." I said. A tear rolled down my face, " you don't understand what you're asking me to do." "We're asking you to succumb to something you can't fight forever anyway." "That's the same as asking me to just lay down and die, and you know what, conveniently, I can't do that either." I said loudly. "You can't die?" "Not until I kill my counterpart, whom I haven't met yet." I said. "Care for a demonstration?" I asked. they nodded. I quickly drew my gun, pressed it to my chin and pulled the trigger. The four of them screamed like there was no tomorrow as I slumped to the ground and blood poured out of the enormous hole in the top of my head. "Is he...dead?" Serena asked. "What do you think, meatball head, his brains are painting the ceiling!" "Nah!" I replied, standing up as the wound sealed and the fluids disappeared. "I told you, I can't die." "Okay, we believe you now, but if you ever do something like that again, we will find a way to kill you." Raye said. I smiled in reply. "James, please, she needs you, she's spent the last few nights crying herself to sleep. The other day she told me it felt like the only man seemingly destined to ever love her refused to do so." Mina said. I looked at her seriously. "She said that?" "Yes, James, she did." "I didn't know it had progressed this far, where is she now?" "She's outside under her shade tree." "Okay, I'll go talk to her." I walked out to the spot they were talking about. There she was with her books, studying as usual. "Hey." I said sitting next to her. "Is this shadow taken?" She smiled and shook her head. "Amy, listen, um, this is kinda hard for me to say..." she took in a sharp breath and braced herself. "Oh no, it's nothing like that, no, the opposite actually, I just...uh, never really took the time to figure out what I wanted to say to you." I stuttered. "Are you asking me out?" "In a nutshell, yes." "There's only one problem, James." "What's that?" "How are we both gonna fit inside a nutshell?" she smiled. "I'd love nothing more." she said embracing me tightly. I obliged her. "Amy, do you have any idea how long I've waited for this moment?" "I've waited all my life. James, I never understood it before, but the reason I never dated was because I felt somewhere deep down that I already had someone waiting for me to come home, and I guess now I know who that someone is." She said. I smiled and lit a cigarette, inhaling deeply. "So, where shall we go?" "I really don't know of any places to go, James, like I said I've never done much dating." "Well, we can go dancing, go to a secluded place in the great outdoors to watch a sunset, or a sunrise. We could go to a nice restaurant and follow that up with a movie of some sort, or we can just sit around and not really do much of anything." I stopped. "you know, I never really cared for that last one much." "I didn't think that was your style." She laughed. "How about this, tonight, we'll go on a walk through the orchards to a place I know of." "Sounds like fun. You know I'll have to be armed right?" "I don't care." She said smiling back at me. "I just want you." "I'll meet you here in an hour." I said. "I'll be here waiting." She replied smiling. I went upstairs and dressed in my blue jeans with a white tee-shirt. Over the tee-shirt went my shoulder gun harness, loaded with twin automatic pistols firing nitroglycerine tipped, hollow-point rounds. Over that went my leather jacket. I placed a small Smith and Wesson .38 Detective Special in my boot holster and then wore a leather fingerless glove with steel knuckle plates on my left hand. I then pulled my hair back into it's usual pony tail and hid a dagger inside of it. Jacob walked in as I admired myself in the mirror. "So you got her, eh?" "Yup, how do I look?" "How many do you have on you?" "Four, and my glove." I said, he looked impressed. "Where?" I lifted my jacket and pants leg. "That's three." he said. I looked thoughtful, like I was trying to remember something and placed my hand on top of my head looking around, before snapping my other fingers and lifting the dagger's handle ever so slightly. He smiled, "brother, you are the man!" He said slapping me a high five. I walked out and put my shades on, saluting Serena on my way out. "James?" she asked to herself as I went out. I walked out and sure enough, Amy was still waiting under the same tree, her jaw dropped as I walked up and helped her to her feet. She reached up and removed my shades. "Wow, you look...cool." "That's a good thing right?" "Well yeah, of course, but you don't look like a foreigner at all." "Neither do you." "Yes, but I've had nine-teen years of practice." "You ready to go?" "Yeah, let's do it." I took her arm and we set off walking. As we walked we began talking about our experiences since we had been on Earth. Every now and again I would glance at my watch and look around. Amy finally caught on. "What are you doing?" I held out my watch revealing a radar screen with about thirty blips on it. "Ah, I see, what are all the blips?" "Well, seven of them are us and the others, two of them belong to grandfather and Chad, the other twenty-one are enemy troops." I said calmly. "Oh my, are you positive?" She asked reaching for her pen. I stopped her. "Just act normal, I've got it covered." I lifted my jacket flap slightly revealing one of the weapons. She tensed up. "James, I have to confess, I hate guns, they scare me." She said. "In the wrong hands, these weapons are terrifying, you're absolutely right, however, when they're in my hands, you have nothing to worry about, okay?" "Funny, from what I hear tell from Luna and Artemus, you're the one I should be worried about most." I smiled "Okay, so I'm a little trigger happy." "A little? Fifty rounds into one enemy?" "He pissed me off! I was venting my anger." "You know, James, some men choose other methods of venting then pulling a trigger." "Amy, when you've lived your entire life doing one thing, it's not exactly easy to give it up, you know what I mean?" "Relax, James, I'm just giving you a hard time." She said smiling. I nodded and sniffed the air, I detected a scent that was very familiar to me. "Okay, Darien come on out." I said turning around, he stepped out from behind some bushes, smiling. "How'd you know I was here?" "Your cologne, the scent hasn't changed in a thousand years." I smiled extending my hand, he shook it smiling. "You know, I really don't remember much about you, only the words 'war dog' come to mind." He said. I nodded, smiling back at him. "That's what you called me. You were such a royal prick most of the time, however you did step off your high horse every now and again." I sniffed the air again, and smile faded as my eyes began darting around. My hand slowly went underneath my jacket. "I wouldn't do that if I were you, Jimmy." A voice said behind me. "Unless of course you don't mind both of your friends being executed that is. Reach for the sky and turn around slowly." I did as I was told and faced a warrior dressed in titanium armor with a half mask on his face, leaving his deformed mouth exposed, and it was smiling at me. Instantly three others appeared behind me and ripped my jacket downwards, pinning my arms to my sides as they removed my weapons. "You really are cowards, aren't you?" I said smiling back at him. "Not only do you hide your distorted facial features behind a mask like the pussies you are, but now you're holding up two helpless civilians because you actually think I have lowered myself enough to give a damn about their lives? Not only is that cowardly, but that's retarded, apparently you missed the briefing your master gave on me, didn't you?" "Um, yes, actually, oh well then first we kill him, then we tie the other guy up and have our fun with the girl before we execute them both." He smiled. "Goodnight Jimmy." "What..." I started to ask before three clips of rounds were emptied into my body. I danced around for a few minutes before falling backwards to the ground in a puddle of blood. the leader began walking up towards Amy as he lowered his smoking weapon smiling and chuckling. I suddenly sat up with the 38 special aimed right at his face. "What the...Ahh!" He yelled as the shot resonated from the surrounding parts, and he slumped to the ground, an enormous hole going through his helmet. The others began taking aim. I turned quickly and kicked my rifle out of the hands of a second one, shooting a hole through his chest with the revolver and leaping in the air to catch the weapon. I then opened fire on the remaining two, mowing them down before they could even get a shot off. I landed quickly picking up my weapons and replacing them in their respective holsters. That's when I heard applause from behind me. "Bravo, James, bravo." A familiar voice said. The voice was smooth, majestic in tone, but it felt like nails on a chalkboard to me. "Felinine." I muttered to myself angrily. My nostrils flared as I turned around. "You must have balls the size of the moon to come back here thinking you can whip me now." I said. "Still unaware of the futility of your struggle, I see. You see James, I'm not here to fight you, I'm here to reclaim what is rightfully mine, you're just a slight blemish standing in my path, and nothing more." He snapped his fingers and I heard Amy scream. "Drop your weapons, Jimmy." a voice exactly like the one I had just killed said calmly. "Oh, so we're gonna play this game again?" "I'm not playing games anymore, James, I want you and your friends off my rock." He said. "This planet belongs to me exclusively, and I would still be sitting on that throne if it hadn't been for you and your damned little marine corps." He said. "Get off my rock, and you will all live happily ever after, refuse, and die very painful deaths, your choice." "Vincent, you couldn't kill me a thousand years ago, when I was nothing more than a thirteen year old boy. You're not scaring me in the least little bit." I heard a weapon cock behind me. Just then a hiss sounded and the enemy fell dead. "You're not the only one with soldiers backing you up, you stupid fuck." I said. "And as far as 'you're rock' goes, this planet belongs to it's inhabitants now, not you. Here are my terms, you pack up your little fucking 'intellectual' soldiers," I drenched my voice with sarcasm as I said it, "and take your shiny, little, golden ass elsewhere, before I plant my boot in it for a second time." I aimed at his face with the pistol. "Your choice." He began smiling and shaking his head, one of his tentacles moved with lightening speed and severed the weapon into two pieces. "You don't seem to get me, James, I didn't use time travel to get to this time, I am immortal, Beryl's evil magic possessed my body when she died by your hand giving me eternal youth, So while you took a short cut and traveled through the gates of time, I spent a thousand years redesigning my weapons, and training my body to use them...GRAH!" He launched a foot into my chest so quickly I couldn't see him move, I flew backwards and smashed through three tree trunks before landing on my back and flipping up to my feet. Electricity began arcing all over my body, and my eyes pulsated blue. "You don't seem to get me, Felinine, Neither did I. AAAAHHHHHH!!!!" I launched my hands forward and the energy blast that followed turned the spot where he stood into a smoking crater. I then swung my foot backwards catching him in the ribs and launching him backwards. His body flew through the foliage and back out onto the practice pad of Raye's dojo, where she was training some students. "Um, okay guys, class dismissed for today, hurry home and I'll see you next week." She said rushing them inside the dojo. I leapt through the hole he had made and tackled him, launching my fists into his face. "You son of a bitch, you killed my father, you killed my queen, you almost killed my wife, and you crashed my god damn wedding, mother fucker." I grabbed his arm and held him up right drop kicking him to the side like a rag doll. His once shining armor was beginning to get tattered. He slowly climbed back to his feet as everyone ran out to witness the fight. "You insolent wretch, how dare you man handle your master in such a way, you will die!" He launched all six tentacles forward piercing my body in six locations. I gained a summoning stance. "AAAHHHHH!" I summoned an energy aura and began spinning rapidly in a circle. He was yanked forward as the tentacles wrapped themselves around my body. I stopped suddenly digging my feet into the cement tiles of the floor and launching Felinine away from me into a nearby brick wall, the wall collapsed as he slammed into it. "AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" I shouted a second time. A blue explosion fired all the tentacle's remnants off my body revealing the dragon man. My slitted pupils locked onto his body, he whistled and twenty more soldiers dropped, surrounding me. I smiled and tore into them like the rag dolls they were, dismantling each one in record time before stalking slowly up to Felinine and grabbing him by his throat, hoisting him off the ground. "You...can't kill me...James....ack!" He said as I tightened my grip. "Or you'll...never...find...your father." I widened my eyes momentarily when he said it, before spinning around and flinging him through another brick wall and returning to my human form. "My father is dead, Felinine, don't you remember? You killed him." His armor was now chipped, dented, and cracked. He smiled and flipped back up to his feet, turning to face me, drawing a sword. I drew mine and he charged I parried his every blow expertly before landing my foot in his chest and tossing him out into the nearby street. He stood up and turned just an on-coming car slammed into him. His body flew through the air and disappeared through a portal in mid-flight. I slammed my sword back into my sheath and wiped my lip. "He's dead right?" Amy asked coming up behind me. "Negative, not a chance in hell, if a bullet through his skull didn't kill him, then that car just got a busted radiator grill over nothing." I said. "God it's good to be back!" I said smiling through the sweat. They laughed, I turned to the rest of them. "Oh, and thanks for the cover fire, Sid." he stopped. "Huh? Cover fire? What...cover fire?" "You weren't sniping?" "No." "Who was?" "None of us." Jacob said. "We were all here with the girls." "We have someone else down here then." I said. "This...newcomer fired a sniper round and killed one of Felinine's troops before Amy was injured, so if discovered, they are to be treated as a friend...for now, should they decide to remain neutral, so be it, but for now we'll just leave whoever it is to themself." I said. "Our next order of business is to establish communications with the kingdom of the present day..." "James, that's against orders." Jacob said. "Whose orders, Jake? The queen is dead and she thought he was too. If he's gonna play this game of his, we're gonna need back-up. Sid, can you handle it?" "I'm on it, sir." He saluted. "Excellent, when you reach them, tell them I need three flights of their best pilots here, ASAP...no...better make it five flights." I said. "We need foot soldiers, weapons, armor, and some heavy weaponry also, this bastard is not getting away from me again." "Sir...all frequencies are dead." Sid replied. "What?" "All MK frequencies are dead, sir, they're not there." "Are you sure it's aimed correctly?" "Absolutely, sir, my calculations predict Crystalis's trajectory to be at 312 degrees and an angle of thirty-four degrees. All frequencies, Alpha through Zeta are dead sir." "No, that's not possible." I started, my jaw tightened and my right eye quivered ever so slightly. "It's not possible, they survived, they have to have survived." "Who did?" Serena asked. "The Kingdom..." I replied, "your kingdom." The gasp resonated from the crowd. "James what about that wall, did it mention this happening?" "Yes, but not for another forty years." "From when?" He asked. "Our time, or theirs?" My eyes widened. "I still haven't changed the outcome." I said slowly. I hung my head and walked inside to my room silently. "James, what about Felinine?" Sid asked. "Fuck Felinine." I replied quietly. "Let him have his damned rock for all I care, maybe if I spare his life fate will be altered." "JAMES!" Jacob shouted. "That's treason in itself." "Treason to whom, Jacob?" I shouted back. "I failed the queen, I failed my father, and I fucking failed my planet. If he wants the chance to do the same, then I say give it to him, I can't take this shit anymore, what good does it do to have these awesome fucking powers, if you can't accomplish a god damned thing with them? HUH? WHAT GOOD DOES IT DO?" I turned and ran off, leaving everyone behind. I just ran as fast as I could, ducking through, around, and under obstacles that crossed my path. I stopped when I finally reached a massive beach. The sun was beginning to set into the sea. "Help me." I whispered through my tears to the sky. "Help me, please." I fell to my knees and then collapsed into the sand, sobbing. Not only did I misjudge the time frame of the wall's prophecy, but I wagered everything on my interpretation being correct, and lost. Suddenly I heard a foot step from behind me, I quickly rolled over and drew my pistol, taking aim at the intruder...who turned out to be a dog. "You know something, dog, one of these days you're gonna get yourself killed by doing that." I put the gun away and sat up. I began racking my brain, thinking of how I could possibly change the prophecies. That's when it hit me, the most obvious solution of them all. I flew back to the dojo at top speed and slid to a stop in front of Sid. "Give me a life form scan of Crystalis." I said breathlessly. He pulled out his wrist computer and began hacking away mercilessly. "Sir, there are no signs of any intelligent life remaining on Crystalis." He replied. "Good, excellent, last life forms to be on the planet." "Hard to tell, sir, from the looks of some of the ruins it appears as though the NV and MK battled back and forth for control." "They did, but who was the last ones there, can you tell?" "Let me check...ah ha, here...what the...sir...you were the last one there, you and another man." He said. I started laughing uncontrollably. "This is too easy, okay now, let's try out this fate altering thing, shall we?" "Yes sir, please." "Under no circumstances are any of us to return to the past kingdom." I said. "I vow on Serenities grave that I will not return to the past kingdom." I said. "Sir, we're picking up life forms." "How'd you do that?" "Simple, my energy is the reason those evils went to that planet. If I never went back, they never destroyed it." I smiled. "Which means..." "The kingdom's alive." Sid stated smiling. "And..." I said smiling big. "Amy won't die." Jacob said. "Even better." I said lifting my comm-link. "Marines, attention!" "SIR YES SIR!" Came the reply. "Daniel's last orders from me." I said. "If I don't show up on a certain day at a certain time and place, he is to send me three flights, Alpha through Gamma flights, as well as the Exodus MP5 carrier ship." "You forgot something, James." Jebidiah's voice emanated from behind me. "Family is always first." He turned. "Luna! Artemus! How long has it been?!?" "Marines, report back to the Exodus and standby until further notice." I said smiling. "You cannot fail again, James." Artemus said stepping forward. "Do not confuse your achievement for a victory over fate, you have simply delayed the inevitable, the Moon Kingdom may grow mighty again, but so will her enemies, especially the master of chaos." I turned to face him, and smiled. "I may have failed at completely altering fate, however, just you wait until I fulfill a prophecy for my people," I said, "then they will flock to arms with me against her enemies, and the Moon Marine Corps will have the greatest numbers in galactic history." I smiled. "And as for the master of chaos, Onyx, well now, we'll just tend to that thorn when he gets here."  
  
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The next few days were rather slow paced, not much happened with Felinine detecting the sudden rise in the MMC population on Earth, he decided to button up for a while and regroup his soldiers from his Lunar Outpost. Grandfather reacquainted himself with Luna and Artemus as Amy and I spent as much time together as possible. "I don't trust all this silence." I told her one day. We were sitting outside in front of a drive in burger joint. "It makes me feel edgy, like something's about to go down any second." She rolled her eyes and smiled. "James, he's scared, you have your army again, he's probably even left the system by now." she said, I shook my head. "No, I know the man personally, that's not his style. He's a former Marine himself, he knows a majority of our weaponry and tactics like the back of his hand, three flights would be nothing to his army, unless he's afraid of reinforcements." I said. My watch beeped indicating a communication attempt, I answered it. "James here, what's up?" "Sir, we've gained communications with the kingdom, and you're never gonna believe who's there." I arched an eyebrow and looked at Amy. "How long can we keep communications?" "Indefinitely, sir, I've locked onto the position of every satellite in this solar system, sir." "Good work, Sid, if you weren't in a top dog position already, you'd be promoted right now." I smiled. He chuckled. "Thanks James, you wanna wait for it?" "Yeah, I'm entertaining some company right now." "Say no more, I'm out." The link went dead. "Well, we've contacted the moon kingdom." I said. Amy looked shocked. "Are you serious? It does still exist?" "Yes, Amy, I'm serious as a heart attack." "We thought you were joking, because Serena's supposed to rule Earth." "I know, she's not returning with us." I replied. "Neither are the three flights." "What do you mean?" "The Moon Kingdom belongs to me now." I said. "I cannot allow Serena and Darien to retake it..." She stood up. "You're not serious!" "Amy, sit down and listen before you jump to conclusions." "Okay, but this had better be good." "If they return to that kingdom and to power there, they will both be dead within ten years of their return." I said. "What about the scouts?" "What about them?" "Are you just gonna split us up?" "Absolutely, in order for the kingdom to survive, the five of you must be divided down the center. You will remain on Earth with Serena, Lita, and Darien. Raye and Mina will return to the kingdom temporarily with me while I initiate the cleansing operations." "Why them?" "Because if I take you, we'll get married, have two beautiful children, and then I'll be forced to watch the three of you die deaths that you don't even want to know about." I said. "But why them?" "Because, in order to properly lead the kingdom, by law, I must have a queen. One of the two will fill the spot temporarily, after the cleansing has been completed, I'll return with a small armada to reinforce Earth's military, and bring you and Lita back with me, leaving the entire Sailor Scout Special Forces brigade with Serena and Darien." "What was that?" "What?" "A brigade? There are more Sailor Scouts?" "Of course, there are hundreds more of the Sailor Scouts left, they're the secret service of the Moon Kingdom." I explained. She nodded and smiled slightly. "You know, James, the more I learn about the kingdom, the less I want to return."  
  
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"Okay now, There are three flights here correct?" "Yes, sir, Alpha through Gamma flights are in attendance." Jacob replied handing me the roster. I glanced it over and handed it back. "Well then, it's good to have all of you aboard for the Earth Mission, here's the basic plan of operation. Each of your flight commanders has been given the recon information regarding this city and the surrounding areas, this is your theater of operations, you each will be issued a copy of the city's map, memorize it, you will be on a tight schedule of twenty-four to forty-eight, flight commanders, get together to decide which flight will go first, second, and third. When your flight is on duty you may only stop your patrols to eat and dispose of bodily waste and you may only do so two at a time from each element, meaning if your flight has five elements, there had better not be more than ten people off the street at any given time. Do you get me?" I said pacing back and forth in front of the formation, a cigarette hanging out of my mouth. "Yes Sir." they replied. "Good, secondly, as soon as this formation is over, the formalities stop, no more sirs or ma'ams, put your uniform in your lockers and do not put it on again while on Earth soil, they don't know us, and they do not recognize us as a military unit, hence forth all combat operations will be covert. In each of your lockers you will find ten thousand American Dollars worth of Earth Money, go to the stores as indicated on the displays of your command center and buy some Earth clothes that blend in, some of you may choose to stand out somewhat as far as your style in clothing goes, that's fine, go with what's natural. As for your hair, no more buzz cuts, look around and find a style you like and make it happen. Next, flight commanders will be responsible for supplying vehicles, they're referred to as rides, wheels, cars, trucks, vans, and whatever else you might hear down here, when you get your buddies, the two of you will go look for one you like and report the location, make and model of the vehicle, again, some variance is good, don't go over board. I can't say it enough, guys, we're going for inconspicuous here, although the funny part about that one is, that diversity and trend setting is considered the norm, you will all have your beliefs rocked while your down here, let me assure you. Oh, one more thing, in your equipment, you'll find a devise that looks like this." I held up a cell phone. "This is a completely mobile, satellite based communications system, otherwise known as a cellular phone, cell phone, mobile, so on and so forth, keep them on you at all times, your buddy will be speed dial one, your element leader will be speed dial two, flight commander will be speed dial three, and I will be speed dial nine. There is still a rank structure here, boys and girls, however, if you see, hear, or find something that you think will interest me personally, don't hesitate to jump the gun and call me directly without going through all the paper work. What will interest me personally? Any and all information concerning the enemy's top dog, Vincent Felinine..." "Sir, we watched you kill him." "Yes you did, the bastard won't stay dead, so you'll all get the pleasure of watching me kill him again. One more thing concerning this mission, boys, and this is the most important piece of information you will have ever received before. If your cell phone rings and the display reads one, zero, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, that means that we've located his home base, and we're gathering for an assault. In that case you will meet here and take the black duffle bags out of your lockers, these duffle bags are sealed because they contain high tech, secret weaponry that I designed personally, there are only four other people who know what is in those bags besides me, the reason for this, is security, should one of you fall susceptible to Felinine's influence, you won't be able to tell him what weaponry we have in store for him, the seals that are located on those bags are virtually indestructible, much like the bags themselves, and will not be released until I give the signal. When you get that signal on your phones, you will meet here and the seals will be broken, you will dress in the equipment provided and form up right here, where my four captains will be waiting for you. More than likely I will already be on site. With that being said, flight commanders, who will be first?" "Alpha's going first, James." The officer said. I looked at him and handed him a briefcase. "You'll pass this on to whom ever relieves you of your duties, commander." "Absolutely, I do have one question though." "Shoot." "What about cloaked cruisers?" "Until vehicles are acquired this is how you'll do it, half the flight will be on foot, carry concealed side arms and body armor. The other half will use Lycanthrope models, they're in hangar three. The rest of you can go about your business and do your thing, Beta Flight will be next up to bat, so discuss your plan of action, as time goes by, the efforts will be a bit more organized, but for right now, I'm not worried about it." I stood erect. "Attention!" They shot to the position and stood still. "Commanders, when I give the word, take charge of your flights, administer any further orders and get them on their ways, any questions from anybody concerning anything I said tonight can be directed to me or one of my four captains, your flight chain of command just got here like you did and are just as ignorant to the details as you are at this point, however, don't let it go to your head, that won't last long." I smiled slightly as the group chuckled. "Should anyone ask you about your origin, you can tell them that you're the first of a new order, the Aqua Prima." I said. "That's all I have, Commanders take charge." I finished. They saluted, I returned the gesture and they turned to administer additional orders to their flights. I moved back to my clique's spot and turned to face the girls. "James, are you sure we can do this?" Lita asked. "I mean, it's been a few years since we've seen any Nega-Verse activity, we're a little rusty, and our powers, well, I don't know if we can cope." "Lita, come on," I replied. "I have one hundred and fifty marines standing right behind me, all of them are professionally trained killing machines, in a world where survival of the fittest is the law, these guys are the alpha omega, the first one's there, and the last one's standing." Mina rolled her eyes slightly. "Okay, Mr. Television Announcer, thank you for that analogy, but can we do it?" "Do what? Kill Felinine? That's not the problem, killing him is easy, it's making sure the bastard stays dead that seems to be the problem." "What about Cryo-Prison?" Jacob asked. "It's a possibility, but I don't want to take any chance that he might be resurrected." "What other options are there?" "Well it's taken him a thousand years to build this army and find us, one option we have is to kill him again and wait another thousand years to see if he resurfaces or not." I said, "but that option's not very appetizing to me. After we go home, I'll have more important things to do with my time that to worry about his return." "Sir, long range sensors have detected an enemy force massing around Crystalis." Sid said. "MMC command says they don't know who it is, but they bear the markings of a lost transient called Onyx." "Really?" I said. "Put me through to command." "Roger that, done." "Command this is Admiral Geo, what's up?" "Well, James, these guys must have been sensor ghosts, they just popped up out of thin air. We're not out numbered, but the technical nature of the ships indicates that we will be outgunned." Daniel's voice responded. "Daniel, you're still there?" "Absolutely, James, I've undergone three prosthesis operations, but I'm still around," he chuckled. I smiled. "Good to hear from you, buddy, now about those ships, they're Onyx's ships?" "From what we can tell, yes, the markings would indicate that they are, but the life form readings indicate a less complex life form base, I'm thinking maybe some space pirates nabbed 'em from somewhere and are using them as their own." "It's a good possibility, how many ships?" "Three Capital Class ships, two or three carriers, and about fifteen hundred fighters. They're all uniform." "That's highly unlikely for pirates." I said. "Might be Novascus." He replied. "That's gotta be it, he's the only one who keeps a neat crowd. Odds are his crew doesn't realize the full potential of their ships, hook 'em, book 'em, and cook 'em." I said, a chuckle came back. "Roger that, take care old friend." "Ditto, James out." I turned back to them. "Onyx's ships, what a joke. He is not gonna be a happy camper when he gets back, that's for sure." "So what's the command staff plan?" "Simple, find him and destroy him, they're basic duty is to wipe out his army, and keep it out of the public eye. Our job is to attack the root of the problem, Felinine and any generals he may have conjured up." "Luna said something, the day you showed up, about a Jonathon Geo, is he a relation to you?" Amy asked. Jacob and I exchanged glances. "Why?" I asked. "She said she thought she saw him standing close by." "She's mistaken..." I said, walking away. "How can you be so sure?" "I watched him die." I replied. "You watched Felinine die too, James." She said, I walked through a door, she started chasing me. "James!" "What Amy?" I said sticking my head back out. "Jonathon Geo is dead, he died Amy, My father is dead!" she stopped. "Your..." "Father, Amy, Jonathon was my dad. Beryl launched a fighter assault, he lead the MDT to oppose it, they won, at the cost of their lives, none of them survived." I said "What if Beryl took him, the way she did Felinine" "Impossible, Beryl corrupts the evil in men's hearts, he had none." "James get a grip." Jacob said. "It is possible, our dad was a great man, but everyone has a dark side, even dad." I looked at him. "He is dead." I hissed through clenched teeth. "James, how else could Felinine be predicting our moves with such accuracy, no one knew you better than dad, we have to consider it as a possibility and try and figure out how to counter it." "Why?" "Because if we don't, and we're wrong, he'll chew us up and spit us out just like he did our home." I sighed and looked at the ground. "I can't even begin to think about what I'd do if we went up against dad, Jake, I need to clear my head." I turned to Amy. "It's about dinner time, wanna go out?" "Sure, we can talk more." She said grabbing her purse. We climbed into my mustang and left, my mind was filled with worried thoughts about the future.  
  
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"He's onto our strategy sire, we must launch the final phase now, before it's too late." "Can we dodge his little militia?" "They haven't left the airport yet." "Good then, go Jonathon, don't come back empty handed." "I won't, sire, that I can assure you." Jonathon Geo replied, smiling maliciously.  
  
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We pulled up to the docks and stepped out breathing in the fresh air. The beach was surprisingly deserted for such a beautiful day. We walked over to the hotdog stand and sat down. "So what's the plans?" "I don't know." I replied. "All this time, I thought I had killed him." "What?" "Oh yeah, he was being chased by the last three fighters the enemy had, he dropped to an altitude of twenty feet above the surface of Mars, where we lived, I ran inside and grabbed a pistol so I could help him if he had to eject. That's when I got the crazy idea that I could shoot the enemies from their jets. I took aim on the one right behind him, thinking that if I hit him the others would slam into the wreckage, I forgot to lead the target and hit the second one instead, the third one crashed into the second one and my dad thought I had succeeded and slowed down, the first one slammed into him killing them both, or so I thought." I said. "James, that's...horrible, I'm so sorry." I waved my hand "I got over it in time, but what if I was wrong, and now that presumption could be the one mistake that turned this entire war in his favor." "Well then, he doesn't have your powers does he?" "No, he has his own, it's uncanny, he's stronger, faster, and more agile than any human being I've ever seen before." "Did you two ever fight?" "Yup, frequently, I wanted to rush through my training as fast as I could, but he'd always say..." I started. "Slow down and get it right." a familiar voice from behind me said. I stood up quickly and turned to face my father, my jaw tightened. "So it's true." "Yes, my son, it's true. although you should know, I've never faulted you for my death, in fact I praised you for it, you gave me a ticket out of that hell hole." "What?" "Serenity was a bitch! she never understood the importance of military superiority." "Tell me about it." I replied. "But, dad, that's no reason to rebel...please tell me you didn't go freely." "Sorry, son, I can't lie to you, I did." "What do you mean, you can't lie to me, you've made me live a lie for over ten fucking years, what's the difference now?" "Because now, I'm going to kill you and take your girlfriend." He said. "Huh?" "Nothing personal, Jimmy, just business." I turned to look at Amy, she was gone, all that remained was her ring, it rolled to a stop as it hit the side of my boot. I picked it up and my jaw tightened. I felt the pain in my sides starting to rise. "Ah ah ah, we'll have none of that." He held out a gun and fired it, I became covered with a green electrical field. The Impala, and three gems were extracted from my body and landed in his hand. He drew another pistol and shot twice, putting a bullet through either of my legs. I dropped to my knees in pain. "You fucker, you're not my dad." He smiled as he took aim between my eyes. "I guess you'll never live to find out will you." Just then I heard a hiss and a rose appeared in the side of his neck. The poison struck immediately and he fell to the ground, disappearing through a portal. Darien and the others ran up. "James, are you okay?" Jacob noticed the blood. "They fucking took her, the mother fuckers took her." I kept saying over and over again through sobs. "Who? Felinine? Who took her?" "Dad." I replied. "He took my power, then he took her." "The Impala, oh shit, let's get him back to medical."  
  
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"Let me go!" Amy screamed as they threw her to the ground in front of Felinine. "Well, well, well, look at what the cat dragged in." he laughed at his own joke. "The guards are dismissed." He said. "Here, sire, the Impala and the three gems." "Three? You moron! Where's the Silver Crystal?" "What silver crystal?" "The one that completes this set!" "This was all he had, sire." "Dammit! You, where is the Imperium Silver Crystal?" He pointed at Amy. "The...what?" "You heard me, you wretch, now tell me where it is, before I make you suffer the pain of a million deaths." "My god, that was his?" "Is there a retarded virus going around? YES! NOW WHERE IS IT?!?!?!?" He yelled. "I'm not telling you a thing, Felinine, but I will tell you that he doesn't know, himself." Jonathon grabbed her hair and hoisted her to her feet throwing her backwards into a wall. "The Emperor doesn't have time for your tongue, bitch, where is that crystal?" "And you, what kind of man are you, trying to kill your own son." "Trying?" "Yeah, trying! You'll fail, he can't die!" "I suppose you would be talking about his power, right?" Jonathon laughed drawing his sword and poking it into the bricks on the floor. "Well, little lady, you'll be quite surprised to know that these gems and that armor, are the source of his power, they're a part of him, created at his birth, he is powerless without them, there is one more piece, the silver crystal, but without it in his possession, he still can't use it's power." "What?" "I put a bullet right between his eyes, and without his power...well you get the point." she started to tear up and looked at him disbelievingly. "You're lying, he can't die." "Believe what you want, in time, your friends will come here looking for you, we'll see if he's with them." He smiled at her maliciously. "Now then, where is that crystal?"  
  
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"Oh, my legs." I groaned waking up. "Be careful sir, we had to perform surgery and remove those bullets." I sat up and examined my legs, wrapped in bandages. "Lucky you, there were no broken bones." I stood up and walked a few circles. "I think I'll manage." "So what do we do now?" "My dad is one of them, however we can use this to our advantage, he's still inferior to Felinine, and serves him loyally, he won't tell his boss that he failed to kill me. So now we're gonna set out to rescue Amy." "Is she alive?" "Of course, they still need her to lure the five of you to where she is." I said. "It's a basic military strategy, very effective also, that being the case, here's what we'll do. I'll go covert, while the five of you walk right up, Jacob and the five star will accompany you, most likely, you'll be captured, but should you be able to save her, by all means, do so. I've got some bigger fish to fry right now." I popped open a locker and pulled out my sniper rifle. "So you're leaving her life in our hands?" Darien asked. "What do you think I can do, Darien? I'm powerless now, the five of you could kick my ass with little or no problem. As of right now, I'm just a regular soldier. I have to stick to what I know so that I can get them back." I looked at the floor and blinked away a tear. "I'm no good to her right now, It'd be suicide for me to try." "But you think you can sneak in and snipe them off?" "Felinine? Yes. My dad? No, he has my powers, he can heal himself, I'll have to find another way around to kill him." I said. "Well then, let's worry about that later, we've gotta go save the girl!" Rocky shouted. He turned to me and pointed. "And Jimmy, I'm warning you, if you don't bang her when we do, I will." I couldn't help but laugh with the rest of the five star. "Seriously though, what about Beta?" Tilano said. "We could use that to gain entry and probably even up the odds with your dad a little." "Better yet, cause a diversion." I said. "Get them out of the fortress long enough for me to get in, get Amy, and get back out." I said. "Then we'll make more plans from there." "Sounds good." Jacob said. "Sir, I've got a lock on his fortress. He's not in the Negaverse, though it is quite Ironic where he put it." "Where is it, Sid?" "Transylvania, sir, home of the vampires." He smiled. I looked up and smeared black war paint across my face in three stripes. "Ready the men, full scale assault." I said. I put on my black snipers get-up and packed some extra clips and magazines. With a machete replacing my father's sword on my back, three knives, two pistols, and a sniper rifle, I was ready to go. The men assembled just as I was leaving. "Okay men, this is it, we've found the enemy's fortress and we're making a direct assault before he can take any more lives." Jacob said. "He's captured Amy Anderson, and stolen James's powers. Are we gonna stand for that?" "To hell with Felinine!" someone in the back shouted. The men erupted into cheers. I cloaked my ship and left, landing just outside their direct sensor range. I strapped one more piece of equipment, it was a personal cloaking device, making me invisible to both the naked eye, and to their sensors. I ran through the woods quickly, until I the fortress was in sight. I then climbed a tree and unshouldered my rifle checking things out through the scope. "Two guards in each tower, six towers in line of sight." I whispered to myself. "James, you there?" a voice sounded on my com-link. "This frequency is secure, please respond." I pushed the button. "What's up?" "We're outside the sensor range, are you in position?" "Affirmative, whenever you're ready." "The men are deployed, Beta is ready to rock, do you really think this'll work?" "They won't send everyone out, but they will send enough out to make things a hell of a lot easier for me." I replied. "You do your job and let me do mine." I replied. "Got it, we'll begin the charge as soon as we break communication." "I'll contact you as soon as I'm out." I said. "James out." "Beta out." A few seconds later I heard the alarm sound off and one of each of the tower guards left. I waited another couple of minutes to make sure they had time to clear the building and then fired six shots, killing the six guards remaining. I ran and brandished two knives using them to scale the wall, by slamming them into the moist grout between the bricks. Once in the tower I deactivated my sensor ghost and removed it, taking the guard's uniform and putting it on. I then moved like lightning for the palace. As soon as I stepped inside another one ran out and started talking to himself. I quickly grabbed him and ducked into an empty room, snapping his neck and taking the paper he had, I stuffed the body in a closet and moved on, the paper was a tactical read out of Beta. I stuffed it in my boot and headed straight for the throne room. I found it rather easily and opened the door. Amy was shackled to the opposite wall, Felinine and Jonathon stood up when I walked in, staring at me. "Sire, tactical sent me to tell you they have important information for you." I said saluting him. He rolled his eyes. Jonathon stepped up. "Did they not send it with you?" "Negative, sire, the printers are down." "Damn technological blunders, alright, Jonathon come with me, you guard the girl, if she moves a muscle, kill her." I saluted again. "Yes, my lord." I stood beside Amy unshouldering my rifle. "Don't move, I will not hesitate." she began shuttering. "Soldier, what's your name?" "Randolph, sire." I replied, he smiled "Right, Randolph, remind me later to promote you." He said. He turned to walk out with Jonathon and left, shutting the door. I quickly removed my helmet. "Okay then let's get you out of here, babe." I smiled. "James, oh thank god, you're alive. There's something I need to tell you." She said. "Be quiet, Amy, they'll be back any minute, we need to hurry." "James, he doesn't have all the gems." "What? That's impossible, he took them all from me." "You didn't have them all, either." "Amy?" "Serena has the Silver Crystal." "You're sure?" "Yes, it's what supplies her with her power, it's in her locket." "Got it, let's go." I said. We made our way to the door. I opened it a crack and looked out to make sure the cost was clear. when I saw it was we bolted down the hall and towards the door. Jonathon stepped out in front of us, right before it and pulled a gun out taking aim at my forehead at point blank range. "Well now, Randolph, something you should know about us. Our soldiers have numbers, not names, now let's go." He indicated back towards the throne room. We went past the throne room and outside. He drew another one and took aim at Amy's head. I tightened up. "Relax, Romeo, if your friends do what I say, you might both live to tell about it." He smiled. He then shouted. His voice boomed from the heavens. "Attention all Moon Marines, I have now capture your commander in chief as well as one of the princesses guardians. Surrender now, or they'll both be shot." He said. A voice came on my com-link "James, are you there?" He pointed both guns at Amy. "Respond to them, and tell them to surrender or she dies." I responded. "This is James, power down Beta, and surrender yourselves." I said. suddenly the Marines disappeared. and Beta powered down. Out walked all nine of them, hands on their heads. Towards us, the CAT's were bringing up the rear. I used my free hand to give Jacob a signed message to take Serena's locket and somehow give it to me. He pretended that Rocky shoved him and knocked Serena down taking the locket in the process, and hiding it in his hand. "Down on your knees, all of you, you two go join them." He shoved us. I directed myself to fall down beside Jacob and grabbed it on the way down. I felt a small surge of power rush through me, I joined my brother in the line up and wrapped the locket's chain tightly around my hand. "all of you are hereby charged with treason to the royal crown." He said. "how do you plead?" I smiled. "You're one to talk, you filthy low life son of a bitch." I said spitting back at him. "and to think that I once worshipped the ground you stepped on." I sneered at him. "You're nothing more than a pawn." He stepped up quickly and pointed the gun at my head. "I've had enough of your mouth, good bye." He pulled the trigger and blood spattered behind me. I fell backwards and seemed dead. He then turned around and started to walk away when he heard me laughing. I stood up and everyone watched as I healed. "James, your power!" Serena said. I looked at her. "Yeah, I know." I held up her locket. "Thanks for holding on to it for me." I turned to Jonathon. "As for you, traitor, I have a deal to make with you." He drew back in surprise. "What?" "You let them go, all ten of them, they leave this planet behind, with no trouble from any of you, and I'll hand over the Silver Crystal." I held it up. Felinine stepped out. "He has it!" "Are you late to everything?" I asked him. I turned back to Jonathon. "so what's it gonna be?" I said. "Sire, he says if we let his ten friends return to the moon kingdom, he'll give us the Silver Crystal." Jonathon said to Felinine. Felinine stepped up to face me. "Really?" He asked. "Give me your word as a Marine, and it will be so." "I give you my word as a Marine." "James don't do it." Jacob started. "Shut up, Jake, we've had this conversation before." I said. "You give me your word?" "Yes, now is it deal? Give me yours." "I give you my word as Emperor, that they may leave this rock unharmed." He said. "Good, as soon as they're clear of the atmosphere, you can have it." I said. "All of you go." Amy ran up and embraced me. "James don't do this, I need you." "I'll survive, Amy, I always find a way." I said. "And this won't be the end of us, that's a promise." I said. she nodded and kissed me. "Now then, go, you don't wanna see this." I turned back to Jonathon and Felinine as they left. A few minutes passed. "They're gone." A warrior said looking up from a field computer. "As promised." I tossed the locket to Jonathon and he caught it. It merged with his body and he became covered with a white aura. "The power, I feel the power." He said. I smiled. "So do I." I became covered with the same aura. "WHAT????? HOW?????" "The prophecy, when the five are joined at last, the champions power will be at it's max." I said. "Now, Jonathon, let's see once and for all who the better man is." I said. He tossed me my old sword, and drew his own, smiling. "Come here, and let me give you a royal whippin'!" He sneered. "You have to get a hit in first, old man." I shot back. Felinine turned and ran off into the palace. Jonathon laughed. "Good then, we're alone now. No distractions." "For once we agree, old one." I said. We rushed at each other swinging swords and fists. We were perfectly matched up, and blow for blow we were equals. We battled on and on for what seemed like hours before we both swung our swords, hard. They met mid flight and both blades shattered like glass. We both bounced and flipped backwards, landing in three point stances, staring at each other. We were both breathing heavily and sweating profusely. "Only a fool trusts his life to a weapon, Jr. Hope your fists are as good as your sword play." He sneered through gasps for air. "You would be amazed, old man." I smiled back wiping the sweat off my brow. We slammed back into each other punching, kicking, flipping, blocking, ducking, and trying to best each other physically. However we seemed perfectly matched up, once again. After a few more minutes of intense, no holds barred combat, we flipped away from each other again. "Grah!" He shouted launching an energy blast at me. I held out one hand and launched one right back, intercepting his. He continued firing, bringing his other hand into it. I joined my hand in it as well, the others landed behind me and got out to watch. We were perfectly matched up. Jonathon started laughing. "Try this one." He said. "Geo Crystalis POWER!!!!" I shouted as his energy blast doubled in size and started over taking mine, it finally blew mine away and struck me hard. I flew backwards and slammed into a brick wall. I struggled to regain my balance. That's when the trnasformation hit. My sides exploded and the extra set of arms appeared. Jonathon jumped back in fear. My face elongated into a snout and a tail pushed it's way through the back of my pants. Wings came out of my back and horns began rising from my head to form a crown. My skin hardened into dragon's scales and the transformation was complete. "You!" He shouted backing up. "You're not James, it's you!" He tripped over a dead body and crawled backwards quickly. I advanced on him slowly, a clicking sound seeping from between my sharpened teeth. He stood up and fired another energy blast. "DIE!" He shouted. I leapt into the air and took to flight launching a fireball at him. It struck him in the face and launched him backwards, punching a hole in the brick palace wall. I landed and stepped forward again. He stepped back out, his clothing now tattered, and blood seeping from his lip. I stepped towards him again. "I have the power, you little wretch, not you, I do!" He shouted. "Then kill me, and shut up." My voice responded from the heavens, the dragon's mouth never moved. He looked around nervously. "So, my son's a coward? Is that how I raised you? You hide behind this beast?" I resumed my human form. "Okay then, I'll kill you in this form, is that more acceptable?" I asked. I slammed my foot into his chest again launching him back through the hole in the wall. He got up again and began summoning his power to it's max. My eyes glowed bright blue as I slowly advanced. "I....have...the...power....now...AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" His body was engulfed with energy. A deep voice erupted from my lips, sounding almost ghost-like. "You will fail, Jonathon." I said. "Oh, so we're on a first name basis now?" "You will die for your insurrection, it was you who planned the assault, wasn't it?" "So you remember the Lunar Prima? I'm impressed." "I knew it was too perfect, the static defenses were down to fifty percent, barely nominal, the MDT wouldn't have paid any attention to that at all, but we did, and as a result, we won." "If that's the way you choose to look at it, you see, our objectives were met, yours were not. That counts as an NV victory in my book." He smiled. "You're a fool, Jonathon." I replied. My body was growing increasingly more invisible through the energy waves that rippled across it's surface. He matched me, stare for stare. "The time for talk is over, punk." He swung his sword down, but when it hit my shoulder it shattered. My hand moved faster than light, and lifted him off the ground by his throat. "You took everything from me, Jonathon, first it was my father. Next you took my dignity and my queen, then you took my girl, my wife, Jonathon, you took my wife." He gasped for breath, as I tightened my grip slowly. "You tried to kill me, Jonathon, but just as before, I will not be destroyed. Your story ends here." I summoned the armor and the gems back into my own body. "Goodbye, traitor, see you in hell." And with that I snapped his neck and dropped him to the floor, his body slumped to the ground, the frightened, lifeless expression now frozen permanently on his pale face. I continued down the hall way killing anyone who tried to stop me with energy bolts arcing from my body. I was now a humanoid mass of blue light, with electrical bolts arcing to and fro, and white flames pouring to the ceiling from my eyes. "Where are you, Felinine, come out and play." I said smiling to myself. Suddenly an energy blast came out of no where and struck me in the chest, launching me backwards through several walls and back outside the palace, I quickly regained my stance as Felinine walked out. "Here I am, Geo, let's finish this." "For once we agree, Vincent." I said. I tossed the armor and all the gems to Serena. It dissipated into her skin. He removed his armor as well. We began circling each other. "I feel powerful." Serena said. "You must have the power to rule, Serena." I told her. "Your mother would not have anything to do with violence, and she fell dead to those she opposed, if you do anything right for your people, do not make her mistakes." "I won't, thank you James." My body erupted back into flames. Felinine smiled. "You don't actually think I'd fight fair do you Will Spirit?" He said. "I too am a Transient being, at one time your superior, Lord Onyx Darkside the Fallen." His face began growing dark and his eyes gleemed a bright blood red. "You fell to my power once, and you will again, right now. AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" He shouted summoning his full strength. The sky above us turned pitch black and lightning arced from cloud to cloud as the rain began to fall. We launched ourselves into battle, blue and black flames mixing together into an indistinguishable sphere. Jacob clenched his fists tightly. "Dammit, can't we do something to help?" "You can't, but we can." Amy said looking at Serena and the others. "If it weren't for him we'd be dead, we gotta help him." "Agreed." Darien replied. "Well I guess there's only one thing left to say, isn't that right Serena?" Raye asked. "Huh? Oh yeah, right, but I don't know how to..." She stopped and sounded as though she were listening to someone. "Weird." she said. "I could've sworn I just heard someone say, Geo-Moon Power." she said. Luna and Artmeus appeared out of no where. "Serena, that's the activation phrase. You have to help him, he won't be able to stand alone against Onyx much longer." "Right then, scouts, let's do it." "You know, I miss this stuff." Raye said smiling. "I think we all have." Lita replied. "GEO-MOON POWER!" All five girls shouted in unison, an eruption of energy stopped both me and Onyx in our tracks. We both turned and stared at the girls as they transformed into their new found powers. Their new suits were by far more advanced then all of their previous get-ups. I arched an eyebrow. "Now you're marine material." I said smiling as they finished. That's when the blast came, a solid kick from Onyx caught me off guard and launched me into another wall. I climbed back up to my feet, breathing heavily. The girls ran behind me and formed up. "We're here to help, Admiral." "This is my fight, get the hell out of here." "James, you can't do this alone." Amy said. "If you don't let us help, Will Spirit will soon be homeless again." She said. "Okay then, let's do it. You girls know how to use those new suits of yours?" "It comes natural." Mina replied. "Although I will say this much, it feels weird not having a power named after Venus." she said. "Try having one that uses your last name." I replied. "But enough chat, let's do it." I said. "Mind Stone Energy BLAST!" Amy shouted launching her hands forward, the energy blast connected beautifully, it was continuous but didn't seem to even phase him. "Heart Stone Energy BLAST!" Mina followed suit launching a second continuous blast. "Will Stone Energy BLAST!" Raye launched a third one, Felinine began backing away from the force of the energy blasting into him. "That's it keep going." I said. "You're doing it." "Sprirt Stone Energy BLAST!" Lita launched the fourth stone. "Serena, you're up, hurry." Darien said. "Geo-Moon Energy BLAST!" She shouted launching a fifth energy blast twice as powerful as each of the others at him, he was staggering noticeably by now. "BRING IT ON GEO, IS THIS THE BEST YOU CAN DO! AH HA HA HA HA, YOU WILL DIE, JAMES, YOU WILL DIE!!!!" He shouted "Now it's my turn." I said. In a flash I became covered with the flames again. I levitated and began circling slowly. Visible energy from all over began gathering at the joint of my palms as I placed them behind my back heel to heel. "GEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOO THEEEEEEEEEEEEERMAAAAAAAAAAAL BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAST!!!!!!!" I shouted launching my hands forward towards him, an enormous energy blast consumed his entire body. the girls each ran out of energy one by one and fell to the ground drained, and struggling to catch their breath. Felinine began writhing in pain under my blast. I struggled and starined for energy to keep it up. Growls and groans of effort escaped my mouth as I kept firing. I kept replaying images in my mind of my wedding day, my father's death, Serenity's death, Amy stepping through the portal, the battle of Lunar Prima. My rage climbed higher and higher with every thought. "all of you get out of here, now!" I shouted. "But James..." Amy started. "Thank you for the help, Amy, now leave before you share his fate." I said. "Please." she nodded and they jumped into Beta and took off. "Now you little bastard, you will pay for all those years you've made me suffer....ggggggrrrrrrrrAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" I shouted through my entire life force into the blast. The energy overloaded and before Beta was out of sight range an explosion rocked the Earth. Jason stopped and turned the ship so everyone could watch. "James..." he said. "You did great, kid." he said. "Oh god, James, no!" Amy started. She stopped and stared at the mushroom cloud. "He did it. He killed Onyx and changed fate." She said. "He killed himself for me." The others crowded around behind her. "He's a great guy, isn't he?" Lita asked. Amy nodded. "He kinda reminds of my ex boyfriend, but he'd have never done anything like that for me, and James is way better looking." she said smiling. "Thanks, Lita." Amy said smiling through her own tears. Just then I fell onto the windshield with a thump and slid off falling to the ground. "That's him, grab him!" Jacob yelled. Sid stood up. "I'm on it." He jumped out the door going into a pencil dive and grabbed me, pushing a button on his vest. A set of wings shot out to each side and his rockets fired flying us back up to the ship. My clothing had been burned away by the blast, but my flesh seemed untouched. "Let's get him home, quickly." Jacob said. "Stay with us, Jimmy, we're gonna fix you up. You did great."  
  
* * * * * "How's he doing?" Serena asked walking up to Amy. They stood in front of a large glass cylinder filled with some sort of bluish colored fluid, I was floating inside. "Same as always, he's regaining strength, but he hasn't regained consciousness yet." She said. That's when they heard a rush of bubbles erupt from the mask on my face, and my eyes shot open. They ran to the side of the tube. "Hey everyone, he's awake!" Serena yelled. Everyone came running. "You did it bro, Felinine, his army, all of them were destroyed, not even a drop of blood was left behind by that blast. I nodded. "Sid says you need to stay put for another twenty four hours before you can come out." I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, Jimmy, I know, but you sucked yourself dry on that last one, let's not take any chances, eh?" I nodded finally. "Just relax in there." He said. "You diserve it." The next day I finally stepped out of the glass chamber and redressed in my uniform which had been freshly cleaned. The remnants of the three flights Daniel had dispatched under my command were few and most were injured, but still they cheered and yelled upon seeing me. Is tepped up to address them. "Okay men, listen up." I said. They started trying to form up. I held up my hands to stop them. "No formation, just listen." I said. "We suffered a lot of losses out there on that battlefield, but I want all of you to know that it was a pleasure to fight along your side. I also want to make this solemn vow to all of you right now, that I will never turn my back on you or the cause for which you fight. I learned a hard lesson out there last week. I learned what it was like to be one of you, a powerless soldier, the only powers I had were my will to survive, and my wits and weapons, just like you. I have a new found respect for all of you, and this entire planet doesn't know it yet, but they thank you also. On that note, I want to thank you personally, without each and every last one of you, I would have died out there, and I don't really mind that, but my friends, and the love of my life would have died also, and that's something that I hold dear, more so than anything else. That being said, feel free to relax and have fun for the rest of the time we're here. That's an order." I said smiling. "Hey James, when are we goin' home?" Someone asked. "Soon, Marine, we'll be going home soon." I said. "I miss it too." I stepped away and wrapped Amy tightly in a deep passionate kiss. I pulled away and looked into her eyes. "I trust you'll be coming with me?" She smiled. "Absolutely, sir. We can't get married unless I'm there with you, now can we." "Bravo, James." Grandfather said from behind me. I turned to face him. "Old man! where've you been hiding, you old war dog?" I asked giving him a hug. "I was negotiating our return with the kingdom, they're preparing a champions homecoming for you, as their new king." He said smiling, it faded away again. "I heard you had to face Jonathon." "Yeah, he wasn't turned, grandfather, he went of his own free will." "I know, he was alwys so power hungry, he had to be in command of everything, ironic that he ended up being Felinine's lap dog." he shook his head. "He was Onyx's lap dog, Felinine died a long time ago." I said. "Well it's all over now isn't it?" Amy asked smiling up at me. I shook my head. "I'm not strong enough to kill Onyx, only my master can do that, I just sent him an eviction notice, I wonder where he is now?" "Who's stronger than you?" "The lord of the Transients is still out there somewhere, waiting to get his revenge on Onyx, and destroy his evil influence for all time." I said. "In time, I will help him do so." I said. "But for now, he's out of my reach." I said. "In the meantime, let's go home." I said. "Sir!" Sid ran in, breathlessly. "It's the kingdom, they're requesting immediate back up, they're under attack." I snarled. "Ready the Exodus, we leave as soon as we're ready." I said.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
TO BE CONTINUED............... 


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